Primitive Liberals Need To Stop Attacking Hillary

Hillary got attacked on Iraq. And then Hillary got attacked on the plantation remark. These liberals have joined ranks with the right wing types who attacked Hillary when she delved into health care in the early 1990s.

Hillary is a woman. I think that is central to who she is. There is no skirting the gender issue. Hillary's person is key to progress on gender relations in the country and the world. It is just that Hillary is smarter and more capable than most men around her, like the all and sundry in the Senate.

Disagreeing on policy is one thing. But then if you disagree with Hillary on Iraq, you, by definition, also disagree with every other Democrat on the Hill who has had the same or a similar position. When was the last time you attacked John Kerry? That is another prominent Dem who also voted the same way. The gender divide becomes so very obvious when you compare how these two leading Dems are dealt with.

If you are a 5 (The Spectrum On Gender), you are still a Dem, if you vote Dem, but that requires you not be hostile to the 6,7,8,9 and 10 people. Otherwise I doubt your progressive credentials.

Liberals can sometimes sink the boat.

My policy difference with Bush on Iraq is he used war as the weapon of first resort. War should be the weapon of last resort, after all other options have been exhausted.

There should be phased out troop withdrawal, but it makes no sense to say come home tomorrow. Hillary is mostly being attacked by people who want all the troops to be home tomorrow, possibly yesterday.

Liberals will simply have to come around to the idea that winning elections is central to the progressive plank. And for that strong on defense in key. Defending Saddam is not how you go strong on defense. We disagree with the neocon way of dislodging Saddam. But then we have to offer a progressive way to dislodge the Saddams of the world. If it is between the liberals doing nothing, and the neocons waging war on Saddam, I am for war.

That does not mean I am for war. But I am for proactively spreading democracy the progressive way. But the isolationist liberals will have none of it, at least not yet. (Nepal Message To Top Democrats) So if you are anti-war, come around to the idea.

Some liberals are addicted to protest politics. They abhor power politics. They actually are against the idea of the Democrats coming into power, or at least they act like it. That defeatist mentality has to go. Shake up, wake up.

Pat Robertson Is Sick, Anti-Faith
Race, Gender, Progressive, Conservative Divides
The Spectrum On Gender
Pan American Desi Caucus: Brown Is Beautiful
Nepal Message To Top Democrats
Michelle Bachelet: Yet Another Woman
Soviet Health Care In America
Social Progress: Show Me The Money
The Israeli Wall Is Wrong, Hillary
Blacks, Hispanics At The Core Of The Democrat Rainbow Coalition
The Spectrum/Dialogue Concept Is Key To Power
Obama Was In Town And I Missed It
French Society: No Easy Solutions
Dick Cheney, Nelson Mandela, Howard Dean
Say Hello To Appu
Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch
Jesse Jackson On Martin Luther King Boulevard
50% Women Friends, 50% Women Colleagues
U2, Me Too
This Is What I Am Talking About
Soaking In Howard Dean
Who Is Leecia Eve?
To: The Good White People In The South
Dean-Hillary-Obama Ticket
Hillary Speaks Up For NYC

In The News

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf sworn in as Liberia's first female president ABC Online, Australia
Text of Inaugural Address by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of ... AllAfrica.com, Washington
South Africa: Mandela Says President Elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's ... African News Dimension, South Africa
Nation salutes Africa's first elected female leader The Age, Australia

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10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong (from Craig's List, emailed to me by Damien Mallen, KY)

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

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Pat Robertson Is Sick, Anti-Faith

Your first reaction is disbelief when this guy opens his mouth. Then you realize he is catering to a ready constituency. That constituency votes Republican. Pat Robertson appeals to the ignorance of his crowd. He calculates. The Bible is just an excuse for his bigotry and his stupidity. The apartheid people also quoted from the same book.

The Republican party at its core houses people who are fundamentally hostile to the non-Christian faiths. The Republican party is an anti-faith party.

Robertson suggests God smote Sharon CNN
Robertson: God punished Sharon Ynetnews
Robertson Links Sharon's Stroke to WrathHouston Chronicle
Pat Robertson has totally lost it Blue Mass. Group
Harry Reid Is Quick to Criticize Robertson, Not Ahmadinejad Human Events
Imperato Blasts CNN’s Cafferty on For Critcizing Robertson’s ... I-Newswire.com (press release)
Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson links Sharon's ... Mainichi Daily News, Japan
UPDATED AGAIN: Ariel Sharon Said Paralyzed, On Life-Support The Moderate Voice

PatRobertson.com
CBN.com - The Christian Broadcasting Network - The 700 Club with ...
The Anti-Pat Robertson/Christian Coalition Site
Pat Robertson and Christian Coalition Quotes
Pat Robertson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robertson: Positive Atheism's Big Scary List of Pat Robertson ...
Media Matters - Robertson called for the assassination of ...
CNN.com - No casualties? White House disputes Robertson comment ...
CNN.com - US dismisses call for Chavez's killing - Aug 23, 2005

Robertson said that Sharon's illness was retribution from God for his recent drive to give more land to the Palestinians. He also claimed former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 for the same reason.

Bush Disavows Pat Robertson Remarks on Sharon Voice of America
White House condemns Robertson's comments CNN
White House Denounces Robertson's Remarks on Sharon Washington Post, United States
Pat Robertson Imagines God as a Petty, Clownish Thug Yahoo! News
US attacks TV host on Sharon slur BBC News, UK
Robertson slammed by White House for comments CTV.ca, Canada
Rage Over Robertson's Wrath Remark CBS News
White House Criticizes Pat Robertson Forbes
Robertson, Iran leader imply stroke was deserved Boston Globe, United States
Jewish Leaders Take Issue With Robertson Comment WXii 12.com, NC
White House offended by evangelist's comments on Sharon Monsters and Critics.com, UK

Race, Gender, Progressive, Conservative Divides

What I am saying here goes with the theme of this blog: how to get the Democrats back into power and keep them there. You are trying to get a majority vote. How do you go about it?

The race-gender diagram by the way is one where the whites in America have already become a minority, which will be a few swift decades from now, already true in places like Texas and California, not to say in all the big cities. And there is a major omission here: class.

And I am not really talking protest politics. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King were masters of protest politics. I am more interested in power politics. That is why I like to read up on presidents and prime ministers. And I also think one thing that really holds progressives down is the crowd has almost an aversion to power. They just want to be able to protest forever. I find that self-defeating. Protest is all good, but ultimately it has to lead to power. The actual good is done with power.

The race-gender equation is simplistic. It does not quite work that way. We need to be looking at the progressive-conservative divide instead. The spectrum concept could be applied to more than race and gender, it looks like.

The Spectrum On Gender
The Spectrum/Dialogue Concept Is Key To Power

You define your segment of the spectrum in a way that you are targeting about 60% of the voters. There is plenty of room for the 9s and 10s, and people at the other end of the spectrum and in the middle have the option to move up. But you don't let the puritst hijack the agenda and pedal you right out of power.

Another thing is political consciousness. Political consciousness is like literacy: it has to be acquired. Most of the political work is to do with helping raise people's political consciousness.

A woman who is a 3 on the gender spectrum is not with us, a woman who is a 6 is with us. The same applies to race and ethnicity. I know too many brown folks who have internalized the racism to think otherwise. A white male who is a 7 on race is with us, a brown guy who is a 4 is not with us.

If you think about it, all those ethnic and cultural boundaries are sexual. I wrote this up on that one: Interracial Connections.

There is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, and there is social reality. Ethnic demarcations happen to be reality, but they do not have to be negative reality. We progressives are not offended by diversity, we celebrate it.


Assembly Debate And After LinkUp

I got lost again last night. I get lost on local issues despite paying rapt attention. But the event was lively. There was great attendance. There were seven candidates. Some guy Tom showed up. He is apparently running for the Senate against none other than Hillary herself. Betsy Godbaum has described her a stalker. I got a flyer from Tom that claimed he had wrongfully been emailed an invitation to the debate. He was running for the US Senate, not the State Assembly. He had another flyer that claimed Hillary had conspired and rendered him homeless. I guess there were two guys with the same name.

These DFNYC top dogs are fiercely for Norman Siegel, let me tell you. I first saw Siegel on TV. I was curious. Then I met him twice in person. If I could advise him, it would be as follows.

"I have met you in person and I have seen you on TV. If you can show up on TV like I see you in person, you win. When people see you on TV, all they are asking is, do I want this guy in my living room? You come across as too worked up on TV. Relax."

The guy is so pleasant in person. But on TV he gets worked up and comes across as "someone who eats children for breakfast." Okay, I think I just earned a few enemies at DFNYC. But that is not an original phrase. Some voter described James Carville that way in 1992.

Siegel is so qualified and so passionate. But he does have to work on his TV appearance.

Scott Stringer became Manhattan president, his assembly seat got vacated, and so there were seven in the run. The debate was on the Upper West Side, a block from Mridula Koirala's restaurant. Mridula is like the unofficial mayor of Nepalis in New York City. I dropped by to say hello to her. She is a self-described feminist.

I met a guy who is a top guy at Playboy, met him and his wife. I also met Jeremy who I met first on the Ferrer campaign. I like to say I became for Ferrer after I learned Jeremy has been to Nepal.

Merle and Heather hosted the debate.

"Heather makes everything happen," Merle said to me.

"All of you here know Heather Woodfield," she told the crowd. I also have a Nepal connection with Merle. (September 16 Protest Rally)

Hosting the debate was quite a challenge, because speed dating was going on at the same time, same place.

"I am trying to run for office here," one candidate walked over and complained.

"I am still trying to run for office," he walked over two minutes later.

Got to meet the usual suspects at the After MeetUp.

All you have to say is "I want Hillary to be president because she is a woman" and you just sit back and watch some progressive white men react. It is a spectator sport.


Class And Race

If an Asian woman makes a classist comment to you, and you fire back a racist comment, and you are a white male, are you a guilty party? That is an open question.

When I moved into the city six months back, I was delighted I did not need my car no more. I still own it, but it goes mostly unused. Sometimes I like to get in and get lost in the city on purpose.

I love the subway. I love walking the streets. I can walk for hours.

But then here people have the cab, and the train thing.

"I am taking a cab" is supposed to be some kind of a status symbol, like "I have a cellphone" was in the early and mid-90s.

What do you say in response, besides being amused?

"I am taking the train. Some of us are Democrats around here!"


Alisa Roost From Hell

More specifically from Hell's Kitchen. (Does Hell Have A Kitchen?) I am trying to run a pilot project with her. I am more an ideas person. I like to team up with people who are nuts and bolts, not my forte. I am not much of an event planner. (The 90 Minute Experience)


This From Abhishek Mistry's Blog

Abhishek Mistry is one of those really, really, really smart guys. And he has good news: Crazy Howard's Success!

The Democratic National Committee raised more than $51M in 2005, a record for an off-year ... Dean's been kicking ass and taking names. The Democratic party has never raised so much money in an off-year, even when Clinton rented out the Lincoln bedroom (which incidentally Bush does as well now) or when Democrats controlled Congress and took millions in lobbyist money..... this $51 million is clean money from small donors

There are people at DFNYC, of all places, who believe Howard Dean is not running in 2008. Are you nuts! Of course he is running. If not, 2004 was sham, and I know it was not sham, I was part of it.

• Ronald Reagan ran and lost early and bad in 1976. Dean will have eight years, that means.
• Bill Clinton ran for reelection as Arkansas Governor in 1990 promising to complete his four years. If the DNC Chair will not take back the White House, he needs to resign now and go backpacking or something. I heard Vermont is good for all that.
  

The 90 Minute Experience

(This is a first draft)

30: Team Building

- Introductions
- Personal Stories
- What was your past month like? What will your next month be like?
- Say one thing about you noone on the Team knows, if anyone knows it, you have to say something else
- Invite people to sign up for the Team Blog on the spot, have a computer with internet access ready

- Snacks
- $2 Donation for Snacks

60: Political Talk

Break into two groups

- National Politics
* Each person submit your 10 point program for 2006
* Synthesize
* Thoughts on Dean 2008

- State and Local
* Identify races and candidates of interest to team members

- Democratic Party
* Did you buy Democracy Bonds yet? It is just $10 a month.
* At 20, we split like amoeba, the group size stays at 10
* Train the next LinkUp host
* When we grow to 10 LinkUps, we have a Level 2 Meeting for the 10 LinkUp Organizers
* When we have 10 of those, we organize a Level 3 Meeting, and so on.
* The sky is the limit.
* Each Meeting has its own Team Blog.

Overall

- Arrange to have many pictures taken and posted online
- Arrange to video blog as much of the meeting as possible
- Arrange for at least one person to take the minutes of the meeting

We have a national audience.

Motto: The conversation never stops.

Presidential Primary Reform

I was just reading an article in the Washington Post on the topic. The current system sure is skewed. So I proceeded to google the stuff a bit.

GOVERNOR PATAKI PROPOSES SWEEPING PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY REFORM
Presidential Selection: A Guide to Reform ..... evidence suggests many Americans are turned off by the way in which the parties choose their candidates ..... found the public complaining of campaigns being too long and feeling disenfranchised, echoing sentiments of "my vote does not count." ...... The structure of the nominating calendar has made the inside baseball game decisive in presidential politics, with fundraising and early endorsements critical to success. ..... this increasingly closed system ..... troubled by the prospect of alienating vast pools of citizens so early in the process ..... Sabato's plan divides the nation into four geographic regions, each having approximately the same number of electoral votes. A few months prior to each election season, a lottery will be held to determine the order in which the regions will hold their nominating contests........ The states in each region hold nominating contests in March, April, May, and June, as determined by the lottery.....
MyDD :: Primary Reform and the California Plan ..... This system features a schedule consisting of ten two-week intervals, during which randomly selected states may hold their primaries. This 20-week schedule is the approximate length of the traditional primary season....... In the first interval, a randomly determined combination of states with a combined total of eight congressional districts would hold their primaries, caucuses or convention. This is approximately equal to the total number of congressional district in Iowa (5) and New Hampshire (2), thus preserving door-to-door "retail politicking." ...... Any state or combination of states amounting to a total of eight congressional districts could be in the first round of primaries and caucuses. This could include such ethnically diverse jurisdictions as American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona, and Maryland....... The widest possible political debate would be fostered by this system ......

Looks to me like the good ideas are already out there, as they often are. What has been lacking is the political will and skill to bring these ideas to some serious debate and implementation. I particularly like this so-called California plan.

The best ideas are "scientific" in character.

The American Plan

The Spectrum On Gender

When I drew up the spectrum on race (The Spectrum/Dialogue Concept Is Key To Power), I hoped one or more of the power women at DFNYC will perhaps chalk out one on gender. I waited and waited and waited. But perhaps either my blog is not that widely read, or the spectrum concept did not fly. So here is my first attempt.

(10) You are the Buddha of gender relations.

(9) You are capable of relating to women in their numerous roles as members of families, and workplaces, as friends, as activity partners. As soldiers, as astronauts, as CEOs, presidents and prime ministers. You do not inherit, create and sustain glass walls and ceilings that keep women away. You can recognize them when you see them and are vocal about them. You do not differentiate between women of different cultural/ethnic backgrounds, or women in different age groups. You are extremely comfortable around women. You value their opinions, you seek them out.

(8) The women in your family, workplace and friends circles are mostly liberated women who can feel your liberation. You empathize with women who are internalized sexists.

(7) You have a female boss and you are okay with the idea. She feels it too. You are not in a sexist marriage. You share in the domestic responsibilities. Your wife is an equal decision maker in all aspects that touch upon your marriage.

(6) You are well rehearsed in workplace issues as they affect women, and you can sing all the right tunes. When it comes to policy, you are a woman’s friend.

(5) You are pro-choice. You are okay with career women to an extent. You still can not imagine them as soldiers or as people in major leadership positions. You have never had a female boss. You don’t want one either.

(4) You are anti-choice. You think women belong at home, cooking food, raising children. Careers are not meant for them.

(3) You subscribe to all sorts of negative stereotypes about women so as to justify your thinking of them as lesser people. You practice strange, exclusive acts of male bonding.

(2) You practice hate speech against women. You routinely talk against them as a group, and put them down as a group.

(1) You commit hate crimes against women. You killed your wife. You are a rapist. You habitually beat up your wife/girlfriend. You beat up women.