The Spectrum Concept: Wide Applications

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

First I drew a spectrum on race because it is of personal importance to me. Race is the number one reality in my life. Sometimes I feel all thoughts I have in the fields of politics, business and technology emanate from that basic reality. It is possible for you to be progressive and offensive! You can be brown or black and be racist, as in internalized racist.

Budhanilkantha, Sadbhavana, Berea, DFA

Then I drew one on gender because these two issues are literally mirror images to each other. Also race and gender are potential members of a winning power coalition.

Now I would like to suggest the spectrum concept can be applied to literally all issues on the political map. You name it.

Race, Gender, Progressive, Conservative Divides

There are several steps involved.

(1) Mapping. Just getting people to talk so you can see where they stand is not easy.

(2) Nudging. You are trying to move people up the spectrum. How do you turn a 4 into a 5, a 5 into a 6? This is a war of words, and not necessarily fighting words.

(3) Building A Winning Coalition.This is the challenge. Do you have more votes than your opponent? This is where the dance comes in. Someone might be a 4 on race, a 3 on gender, a 6 on taxes, a 6 on war, and so on. People are all over the map. If someone is a 3 on abortion, and you offer them a 7 on abortion position, maybe you lose them on all other issues. The hot social issues - gay, god, gun - blur out many other spectra. This is where the winning and the losing horses differentiate themselves. This is candidate territory.

What is a spectrum? There is no one authority that decides that. Progressives will not agree on any one map, although some might gain more currency than others. If conservatives were to draw out the spectrum, I am sure they will make themselves look like 9s and 10s.

And ultimately the winning coalition is emotional in structure. You do start out with much logic. But you got to melt all that into emotion. That is why it is about face time, not screen time. Face time rules.

My emphasis on listening is something to do with the mapping concept. For me active politics is like surfing. 99% of the effort goes into just trying to understand the waves. Only 1% goes into trying to ride it. You always have only that narrow window of influence. The waves you ride are always more powerful than you.

Whale Feeding & Migration Patterns - Tourism Victoria The humpback whale is a medium-sized baleen whale. Like other baleen whales, humpbacks feed by filtering seawater through their baleen plates. To feed, several humpback whales will often create a ring of bubbles, called a "bubble-net", to concentrate small fish and crustaceans in one area where they can be more easily consumed. This technique is unique to this species of whale.

But then active questioning, active listening might be more productive than passive listening. On the other hand, passive listening might make the other person more comfortable, and they might talk more.

Nudging on the other hand is verbal jujitsu. It can be. A debate is a fight where you try and smile and maintain good humor.

Coalition building takes all you got to offer. This is what separates the pro from the amateur. Every individual spectrum you fool around with impacts your coalition. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you lose many but you do it anyway, because that is the right thing to do. But that is recommended between and after elections more than right before elections!

Visitors

26 January

23:50

North Carolina Central, Durham, United States

27 January

04:05

Tiscali, Netherlands, The

27 January

12:32

Sprintlink, Reston, United States

27 January

19:51

McGill University, Canada

28 January

12:55

Level 3 Communications, Washington, D.C., United States

28 January

14:42

Smart Telecom Holdings, Ireland

28 January

17:09

The Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, United States

28 January

17:36

Comcast Communications, Sterling, United States

A Different Kind Of Campaign: A Scientific Campaign

Why Dean

No secret I think consistenly about Dean 2008. I keep having thoughts. Some of my recent ones are as follows.

Nobody else has the democracy message, Dean is the only one. 2008 is the year when America the republic becomes America the democracy. You can not imagine saying something like that with any other candidate. That is why. It really is about the concept of democracy. He just also happens to be the best possible vehicle for it.

Dean is made for the internet. He is so made for the internet, he is a TV failure, and he need not change, he dare not change. 2008 is to be the first internet campaign. If you learn the Newtonian theory of gravitation too well, that actually limits your abilities to understand the Einstein version.

Progressive power truly is about public service. It really is about the average person, the average family out there. Power has a purpose.

Countdown, Take-Off

November 2006. The Dems take back the House and the Senate with a 10 point program. Dean goes on a listening tour across the country. He asks DFA chapters across the country about his possible candidacy. There is much enthusiasm which he cites as the reason to revisit his decision from a few years earlier to not seek the presidency in 2008. The tour lasts to the middle of December. Then there is a Christmas and a New Year break when he huddles with his family, mentally prepares them for what might lie ahead.

January 29, 2007. Dean gives a speech announcing his candidacy. It has been a month of policy and politics work. A lot of brainstorming sessions. Basic outlines are drawn. The speech goes through many drafts. The basic theme is people power. But that is not all there is to it. A lot of policy thinking has gone into the speech.

Then the first internet campaign in US presidential history is launched. It is webcast.

(1) Face Time: That is the center piece of the campaign. It is just that we realize video blogging is an option we are going to use to the max. New technology puts primary focus not on screen time, but face time. Many people wrongly think it is the other way round.

(2) Screen Time: That is the backbone of the campaign.

(3) Old Media: That is still there, and is to be used to the hilt.

February 2007 - November 2007:

1. One major policy speech a month.
   
2. Major emphasis on fundraising.
   
3. Do not spend more than 5% of the money raised before December 2007.
   
4. Meet as many voters as possible across the country.
   

One Major Policy Speech A Month: This is where we rope in the smartest progressives in the country. We organize these sessions for them with Dean, to be video blogged to the hilt. We do this to educate the Deaniacs, the voters, to elevate the conversation. We want the voters to feel we are inviting them into the education process for our candidate. We want them to feel included. And these conversations never stop, 24/7. The face time sessions with the candidate are just the highlights. This is think tank the democracy way. All thoughts are shared blog style. Only the specialists will say what they will say, only the Nobel Prize winners will say what they will say, but anyone may listen in.

Money Talks. We know it. We will play it. We will raise numerous small sums. We would rather two million people donate $10 a month more than anything.

Frugality. We will spend the money $10 at a time. We will spend it like we raised it. No money on TV ads before December 2007, perhaps. Before December, the only thing we do not scrimp on is Dean may travel as much as he wants. And everything is to be video blogged and more. Other than that we will be on a strict diet. If they beat us, they are going to have to beat us on something other than money.

Meeting Voters. This is the most important thing the candidate does, and noone else can do it for him. There are going to be several layers to it. And this aspect is to use the internet and commmon sense technologies to the hilt. The idea is that no voter who meets Dean should feel the need to bring their camera along. The campaign will take the pictures and put them online for them. We do still pictures, we also video blog everything. We make it possible for people to embed the pictures and segments of the video clips at their personal blogs, websites. This done to the hilt is the only way to truly try and reach out to 300 million Americans. I know someone who knows someone who has a picture with Dean. Will it be a two degrees of separation or will it be three?

This is the photo opportunity part. It does ask for physical stamina and good humor and great planning on the part of the campaign.

1. Pose for group pictures.
   
2. One on one pictures.
3. Handshakes.
   

Then there is the small talk part. You are having fun. You are letting people have fun. This is basically, hi (Dean said Hi to me!), how is it going (Dean inquired upon me!), nice shirt (Dean liked my shirt!), nice pin (Dean liked my pin!), "Governor, you are a stud!" oh, why, thank you (Dean thanked me!). The first few times I met Dean I was not able to strike a conversation. I was star struck. No amount of media coverage takes this away. Don't tell me this stuff does not matter. For Dean, it is yet another voter. For the voter, it is their only three seconds ever with Dean perhaps.

Then there is honing in, listening. What do you do for a living? What is your family like? Do you have health insurance? Are you anxious about your job? If you could make one policy change, what would it be? You ask the questions, and then you just listen. Unless you really really feel the urge, you don't start offering policy prescriptions. For all that you have your monthly policy speech, media interviews, stump speeches.

And then there is really listening. We are going to find 100 sample Americans. And Dean is going to really get to know these people, spend hours with them, pay them repeat visits throughout the campaign. And of course all that will get video blogged.

Stump Speeches

There are going to be these five basic themes that we are going to keep repeating. More than five is too many. Stump speechs are about raising morale. They are about using the simplest language. Those who attend should get this jamboree feeling. It should feel good. I don't exactly know what those five are yet. But here is a first draft.

1. People power. You have the power. The democracy message.
   
2. Universal, lifelong education.
   
3. Health care for everyone through reform, creativity and the guts to fight the fight.
   
4. Strong on defense: better management of military operations, better management of Iraq and Afghanistan, better manage the hunt for Bin Laden, better manage troop withdrawals, not using threat of terror to unleash terror on civil rights, to not harass ethnic minorities just to say you are doing something about terror, instead use immigrants from those countries as the cutting edge soldiers for democracy in those respective countries, to spread democracy the progressive way, offer spreading democrac the progressive way as the true victory for the war on terror.
   
5. You fill it up.
   

December 1, 2007

The campaign basically moves to Iowa. All the key people move to Iowa. We live there for two months. It is to be 3-2-1. 3/6ths in Iowa, 2/6ths in New Hampshire, 1/6ths in New York City and elsewhere in the country.

We let the Iowa Deaniacs decide if they wish to invite people from outside to help them. Mostly we use the locals. We treat the state with utmost respect. I worked for an Iowa company for over a year: Heartland Express. Iowa is a field of dreams. Kevin Costner said that? I second that.

We win both Iowa and New Hampshire. I intend to brave the cold, although in my hometown in Nepal it never snows.

Hillary

She is the only Democrat I am "worried" about. Others are easy. I am a huge fan of the Clintons. The 1990s were glory years. 1992 was a magic campaign, it was a classic. I get the impression Bill Clinton wants Hillary to run more than Hillary wants to run, if she wants to run at all: she has a more realistic measure of gender than the guy. The guy is in love. I don't blame him. And Hillary would be a great candidate and a great president.

At this point I don't even know for sure Dean will run. He may not bring this up before 2007. That's just the discipline required.

I have an idea. How about we hold a "secret" meeting with the Clintons right afte our Iowa and New Hampshire victories? We make Hillary an offer she can not refuse. And this is assuming she has not been in the ring, because if she is, you are looking at Bill Clinton as her Campaign Manager. That guy just so happens to be Pele.

The offer is we can not officially make this offer until months later, but it is you for us. Let it be a Dean-Hillary presidency for the first term, and then a Hillary-Dean one for the second term.

This is so out of the box, a lot of people will be like, wait a minute. But this public offer might be a way to reduce her chances of making our Iowa winter worse, and also dangle the White House to the Man from Hope. Here, a White House for your wife.

We are so progressive, we really have a running mate who will literally become the president. It will be a co-presidency for both during the two terms. Both will have a lot of powers. And I can't think of a grander way of breaking the white male glass ceiling at the very top, a more progressive way. Don't you think?

We tackle health care reform all over again with Hillary taking the lead. This time we do it right. We start in 2009, and we work on it for three years, we keep it utmost transparent, we keep the DFA superstructure super involved. We make Hillary blog! ("I can't think in front of a computer." Hillary Rodham Clinton) Success after three years becomes the center piece of our reelection effort.

The Campaign, Part I

This is after New Hampshire when we unofficially sew the nomination, to when we officially do it. We use this period to really build the party, really build our message, really get a lot of policy details worked out, really get the DFA superstructure in place, because we will need it more after we are in the White House.

The Campaign, Part II

We informally sew the nomination. Enter Hillary. We send off Bill Clinton to the South where the white boy belongs! Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson. They have been transplants in Chicago and New York City. I am for Hillary shaking many fewer hands than Dean. Hillary works better on the stump.

The Convention

New Orleans. I was thinking Atlanta, but after Katrina, do we have a choice? We don't even have to work to show the failure of the government. Katrina did that for us.

We will blog this convention like no convention has been blogged before. The scalable media concept will be used to the hilt. People will intimately participate even if they are not there in person.

The Campaign, Part III

We want to beat them on policy, we want to beat them by better executing our campaign. We want to beat them with respect. But if they get dirty, they will get hit like they never have been before. Never underestimate people power.

Me

Me showing up in social settings where the political work gets done is like Amitabh Bachchan showing up at his movie sets. I am at the core of it a loner. I prefer listening to talking. I am not big on shaking hands although I do enjoy meeting people, greatly. I like to get most of my "info" through reading. I am allergic to racist comments like Bill Clinton is allergic to pollen grains. For me even fighting has to be a concept, not a shouting session.

I do blog, I do video blog, but I can't get myself excited about media interviews. The candidate meets the voters, the campaign manager deals primarily with the Deaniacs, the campaign staff, and the candidate. I see myself reading a lot of books on the campaign trail. Every staffer will have a laptop with wireless broadband, a cellphone with the in-calling feature.

I look forward to meeting the celebs. Like Hillary, for instance!

It has to be a fun experience. The candidate getting physically tired is not a good but a bad campaign, an inefficient campaign.

Dan Quayle

Maybe we will have him on the Republican ticket.

Visitors

25 January

11:44

State of Minnesota, United States

25 January

12:47

Hathway Cable and Datacom Pvt Ltd, India

25 January

16:06

The City of New York, New York, United States

25 January

16:45

The City of New York, New York, United States

25 January

17:36

New York University, New York, United States

25 January

17:45

Smart Telecom Holdings, Ireland

26 January

06:55

Hutchison Telecommunications, Hong Kong S.A.R.

26 January

08:07

North Carolina State, Raleigh, United States

26 January

08:39

U.S. Senate, United States

A Huge Mixer: Happy New Year

Last night I showed up for the DFNYC Mixer. It was huge. It was bigger than the one for Ferrer (Mixer For Ferrer). I kept asking people, why did so many people show up, who are these people, is something happening that I am not aware of, bla bla. At least half the people were folks I had never seen before, and I have been to every Mixer and MeetUp since I have been in town. Perhaps this means the base is all fired up to take back the Congress. Most of these people were veterans who have been with DFNYC much longer than I have. The zinns are coming out of the woodworks. The author of To Catch A Mocking Bird says he likes "watching cats and politicians." Cats are okay, but I do like watching politicos. Larry Ellison prefers cats to dogs. Dogs are too obedient for him. Cats don't go pick up the ball when you throw it: he likes that out of the box, going against the tide thing. (Career Talk)

I wish I had my camera with me. I could have captured a few minutes of video perhaps. It was also a new year celebration. And 2006 is a major election year. And in Spitzer DFNYC will finally end up with a major winning candidate.

I showed up about three minutes early. That makes you the first to show, almost. Since noone was around, I went downstairs to the restroom. Lewis Cohen was there in the den. The glass is half full: Lewis Cohen is one of the few people who actually read this blog. The glass is half empty: he gets all worked up with what he reads. He was not happy with my latest: The French Revolution And DFNYC. He felt the DFNYC's local character was not being sufficiently appreciated by me. (How The Blogosphere Can Help The Democracy Movement In Nepal) By then we had walked back upstairs, and as soon as we entered the premises he said, "We don't talk business." Mixers are supposed to be for socializing.

So I ended up with a group of a half dozen guys who were talking Democratic prospects. There were two Gregs, one Arnold, and one Stewart. Greg said gerrymandering is where politicians choose voters, and so the prospects for taking back the House are rather bleak. And he thought McCain might bag 2008.

I walked up to say hello to Leila. I wanted to say sorry I was not able to make it to your Leecia Eve event. I did not have the money! It was a fundraiser. I just launched an online talk show, pay per view, to target the 100,000 Nepalis in America. Give me some time. I just need a few hundred to tune in to take off.

"But did you get the news?"

I had.

SPITZER'S SURPRISE Yahoo! News Word that Spitzer - the sitting attorney general who presumes to the executive mansion - had tapped Paterson, the most powerful African-American in the Legislature, set off a real buzz on Monday....... "When Eliot Spitzer, the world's smartest man, is telling me that he has picked his candidate and knows that his candidate can win, who am I to question the world's smartest man?" snarled Rep. Charles Rangel ....... Rangel - along with three other elder black powerbrokers, David Dinkins, Percy Sutton and Paterson's own dad, Basil Paterson - had already thrown their support to candidate: Leecia Eve (whose dad, Arthur Eve, a former assemblyman from Buffalo, is also allied with the Harlem regulars)..... Mr. Inside picked Mr. Even--Inside .... Spitzer has also stuck his thumb in the eye of upstaters - by seeking to share the ticket with a fellow Manhattanite...... So much for Dems' legendary (if wrongheaded) calls for representatives who reflect their constituents' demographics: Leecia Eve is not only from Buffalo, she's female - perfect for filling the Dems' traditional quotas..... the rift the AG has now ignited in black political circles
Spitzer's choice for No. 2 lays bare his priorities Newsday
Spitzer looks like Rudy redux Newsday
The Spitzer ticket Albany Times Union

This does not look too good for Leecia Eve. (Who Is Leecia Eve?) I admire her greatly. She is exciting.

Leila introduced me to some guy who is the top dog for someone running for Congress in the Rochester area, some millionaire Democrat. He gave me a brief talk on "keeping American jobs in America." I can see how that might have great relevance in upstate New York. Only minutes before a lady had engaged me into a talk on the debacles of "outsourcing." And she was off on a trip to Nepal in September. When I was with the Bay Area Bob Jacobson's online Dean Issues Forum during Dean 2004, I used to draw a lot of fire on the issue, not from the neocons, but from some fellow Deaniacs (Bob Jacobson).

This economy has always lost old jobs and created new ones. That is how it went industrial from agricultural. Now it has to become an information age economy. (Takes Two Arms And Two Legs To Swim)

There was a Southern gal from North Carolina exuding Southern pride, talking barbecue, and vinegar stuff. It was refreshing to hear that.

Just floating around the room I bumped into Bernard Whitman. He is a pollster. He was involved with the Ukraine campaign in 2004. And he was very aware of what was going on in Nepal. He had me hooked. Of course, this is what he does for a living, but he sold me on the idea some major work could be done for Nepal in Washington and Brussels. The richest Nepali I know lives in Toronto. He is from my home district in Nepal, we have a lot of mutual contacts, and we briefly e-corresponded once. Aditya Jha. He sold his company to Sun Microsystems for a huge sum and promptly started another. The richest Nepali in the world though has his base in Eastern Europe. Upendra Mahato. He struck gold right when the Soviet Union collapsed and has not looked back since. "I am not rich, I am very rich," he once corrected someone. I heard that story from someone I know very well, who knows Mahato very well.

I guess the Whitman plan would entail getting Jha and Mahato to cough up some money. No Nepali is New York has that kind of money. There are several in the upper middle income brackets, but that's about it. The average Nepali in America works below minimum wage.

I told Bernard I have been taking the Ukraine name forever. But I do not wish to raise his hopes too much. So far the diaspora has been big on just extending moral support, not logistical support.

I have had a hard enough time raising smaller sums of money: Project Nepal Democracy.

And I have also been more into extending moral and logistical support to the people who actually get out into the streets in Nepal. Democracy is not going to be an export. It is going to be born locally.

"Do you talk to the leaders in Nepal?"

"I talk to all the top leaders in Nepal."

Kentucky Martha looked in good spirits. She had been home for Christmas. Kentucky is curious. I really struggled with the social conservative elements when there. But it is like this huge bonding element between me and the likes of Martha. Just Martha, really.

"I lived in Lexington for six months."

"Where?"

"Richmond Road."

"I grew up near there."

There you go.

Dan Jacoby indirectly shared some family history, of a flower power mother.

"Do you talk to her much?" the other person asked him, this lady who was happily divorced at 37.

"Not much. Since she has been dead 15 years!"

Dan is running for office.

Abhishek Mistry was in element. Looks like this year is going to be hectic for him with his Ph.D work. I will be seeing him again this evening, at his Research Advocacy group meeting, "Cosi, downstairs." (Abhishek Mistry, Dan Jacoby)

Tom Weiss dropped by. He is running for the US Senate against Hillary. I wish him all the best, but I doubt he can garner any support at DFNYC, especially if he were to not stop acting bellicose with the leadership. (Primitive Liberals Need To Stop Attacking Hillary)

About an hour before I left for the Mixer, I got a call from a lady reporter at Newsday. Of the three MeetUps I have been trying to organize in the city, one is kind of taking off: A NYC Aspiring Entrepreneur Meetup. Looks like she wanted to maybe cover the event. She said she had the address for the venue, but can she please have the name. Sweet & Vicious. It is not that far from the location of the venue for the Mixer. A curious coincidence, I thought.

I am not really looking into entrepreneurship as my primary career. My Nepal work has convinced me I am cut for politics, although I moved into the city with the stated goal of cultivating my business ideas. But bills have to be paid, eating into savings is like the finity concept in mathematics, and I do not desire to get a job. That is where entrepreneurship comes in. Also at my entrepreneurship MeetUp, a few Desi professionals show. It is a good idea to build that network too. You might end up having to do a fundraiser somewhere down the line.

In America, that is who I am, I am a Desi, like blacks are black, and Hispanics are Hispanic. And a lot of Desis are in good shape financially. They could contribute. When a lion spots you in the jungle, he sees food. We politicos see open wallets walking around.

A few days back I launched my talk show. If it is 25 cents a video clip for 15 minutes, and I have 400 visitors, and it is two times a week, that is $800 a month. That does not exactly make me a dot com millionaire, but that pays all my bills, and it gives me room to expand. I am not a big spender. I like things like conversations, broadband, music, movies. Things I like are cheap or free. I live in Kensington, Brooklyn, with two Estonian roomies, great guys, we really get along, but every time I cook my food, they feel compelled to open up the window! It is a great neighborhood, low in price, 25 minutes from downtown.

But the entrepreneurship ties into the politics. I think in terms of progressive entrepreneurs. Because of the internet, you don't have to pick and choose. You can dabble in Nepali politics and American politics. You can dabble in politics and business. You don't have to get a job or start a major business, and you can still make dough.

Visitors

17 January

12:35

Independent Network Operations, Albany, United States

17 January

19:44

Southern Illinois University, United States

18 January

02:31

Road Runner, New York, United States

18 January

07:28

Wanadoo France, Reims, France

18 January

10:18

KORNET, Korea

18 January

12:20

CTX Mortgage Company, Dallas, United States

18 January

15:47

@Home, Tilburg, Netherlands, The

19 January

07:13

Shaw Fiberlink, Canada

20 January

12:06

Orange County Dep. Education, United States

21 January

02:41

Inktomi Corp, United States

21 January

04:48

NTL Internet, Portsmouth, United Kingdom

21 January

04:49

Sky Internet, Philippines

21 January

06:23

Tiscali, Netherlands, The

21 January

12:27

Smart Telecom Holdings, Ireland

21 January

13:26

Road Runner, Cincinnati, United States

23 January

19:38

Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., United States

23 January

19:44

RCN Corporation, United States

24 January

02:28

Hong Kong S.A.R. (infolink.hk)

24 January

04:45

Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan

24 January

07:03

Hewlett-Packard Company, United States

24 January

07:14

Southwestern Bell, United States

24 January

11:52

New York University, New York, United States

24 January

13:34

Philadelphia, United States (dechert.com)

24 January

16:32

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States

24 January

16:45

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, United States

25 January

01:22

Swipnet, Sweden

25 January

02:24

Sify Limited, India

25 January

11:44

State of Minnesota, United States

25 January

12:47

Hathway Cable and Datacom Pvt Ltd, India

The French Revolution And DFNYC

If this were 1789, and a revolution were going on in France, and DFNYC/DFA existed, would the organization sit around idly, unawares?



Well, there is a major movement going on in Nepal, but DFNYC does not notice. It is not exactly like the movement in Nepal depends on DFNYC for anything. But for someone like me who has been working full time for the movement in Nepal ever since I moved to the city seven months back, when I show up for a DFNYC event, it feels like such a disconnect. People are sipping beer, making small talk while Rome is burning.



I have kept offering Nepal as key to the strong on defense message for Democrats. So far I have not made much headway. But I am confident my message has oomph.

But for those who just want to sit back and relax, I have another option. I work closely with two young bloggers in Kathmandu who are the Nepali diaspora's window into the street demonstrations in Kathmandu. So click and watch. This is the real thing.

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution
French Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
French Revolution Links Page
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: French Revolution
French Revolutionary Pamphlets
France During the French Revolution and Under Napoleon Bonaparte
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: French Revolution
The History Channel - The French Revolution
French Revolution - Robespierre, and the Legacy of the Reign of Terror

7 Video Clips: Reinvent The Democratic Party

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

Visitors

13 January16:4772.30.177.x 14 January03:21Road Runner, New York, United States

14 January10:39Level 3 Communications, Dallas, United States 14 January11:23DishnetDSL, India

15 January22:57State University of New Jersey, United States 16 January11:12Inktomi Corp, United States 17 January12:35Independent Network Operations, Albany, United States 18 January07:28Wanadoo France, Reims, France 18 January10:18KORNET, Korea 18 January15:47@Home, Tilburg, Netherlands, The

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.

Visitors

6 January

00:32

Shaw Internet, Canada

6 January

02:47

Asahi Net, Japan

6 January

10:36

Playboy Enterprises, United States

6 January

13:47

University of Louisville, Louisville, United States

6 January

13:48

CTX Mortgage Company, Dallas, United States

6 January

13:57

University of Florida, Gainesville, United States

6 January

15:52

Cablelynx, Little Rock, United States

6 January

15:52

Opal Telecommunications Internet Service Provider, United Kingdom

6 January

15:53

ProXad, France

6 January

15:53

Data Fortress Systems Group Ltd., Canada, United States

6 January

15:57

Tele2 France SA, France

6 January

16:02

AppliedTheory Corporation, United States

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.