Thursday, November 18, 2004
No joy in Mudville & how to fix the growing political imbalance
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Shortly after the election, Dr. Paranoia, eager to get the Republican slant, hied to the Midtown bar where the Texan who knows holds court. He was there, just finishing a barside dinner (very popular among the doers nowadays), and spoke, without waiting for the question.
“So, mighty Kerry struck out. It is the moral values, stupid, as James Carville would say, if he did not have a lost election foot in his mouth. But moral values is really a code phrase for something else, and do not assume it is ignorance and irrationality. It is what ACLU in its “take no prisoners” wisdom would call bigotry. Primarily it is unwillingness of a majority of Americans, including Liberals, to sacrifice the traditional concept of marriage. A Liberal friend, father of sons, voted for Bush because he did not like the prospect of his boys going to camp with a gay counselor. The ACLU’s stopping the use of schools and public facilities for Scout meetings galled him, a man who has pleasant relationships with gay colleagues and friends and who supports the social rights for domestic companions. Just look at the margins of vote in the 11 states authorizing their heterosexual marriage amendments to their constitutions! This could be the death knell to FDR’s party, unless they learn to dance.
“Those four activist judges really doomed the Democratic Party, already balancing on the edge of the knife, not willing to give up on the extreme civil rights leftists' and the antiwar lot's positions. They staked Bush with an unexpected potent platform to launch a campaign issue that may have given him a 3.5 million-vote majority, despite his ruinous Iraq strategy and his plutocrat-driven economic and environment policies. You can expect more. And it was not launched by the Religious Right. The latter, spurred by the al-Qaida condemnation of our moral decay, drove a few more nails in the coffin, getting Bush votes by objecting to stem cell research (a surprisingly heavily protested issue, drawing on a fear that embryos will be created for research) and to legal abortions, and expressing revulsion against shock jocks and to sex on TV and in movies. In the South, the code phrase also blurred the heavy remainder of the Dixiecrat morality, which is probably why the Massachusetts abolitionist Kerry’s personal religious and social beliefs did not cut any swath. Edwards the rip-off lawyer, a bad choice, did not help the image.
“Can the Democrats regain ground? Not unless the Pres really messes up, I mean royally, or reopens the draft. No, they cannot offer a clear simple program, a la Bush, there’s too much diversity in your flip-flop party, as the Bushists would characterize it. Hillary, a war supporter, has a small advantage, and also negatives of her own.
“No, the Democratic best hope is in a split of the Republican party, a Ross Perot-like reform faction spoiling the unity. There are many of us Conservatives, who voted for Bush with one hand while holding our noses with the other. We have the Budget savers, the graduated income tax believers and the environmentalists, all of whom hating the plutos that ruin the party, those businessmen and CEOs who do not care for long-term national, stockholder and client service and push disastrous policies that will earn them bonuses. We also have people who believe in the world cooperating in the fight against terrorism, not the “if you are not with me, you are against me” Bush doctrine. Clinton was a middle-of-the-road non-welfare moderate internationalist Republican type, and he won.
“This George Soros is one of our type, a non-doctrinaire, a mostly conservative capitalist. Maybe he should quietly look to support the Republican protesters, John McCain, or whoever else comes forth; the Giulianis and Patakis are too career-driven to jump up and foster any Reform movements. That’s all. I’ve got to go.” And the Texan left.
Dr P. and the bartender were speechless, staring at each other. “Let me give you a tip,” finally the man spoke while wiping his bar.” He’s worried that this Presidential term may be the a doomsday event for the Republican Party, with a forever war that drags on and that kills Americans and Iraqis, with no volunteers joining to be exposed to death in the Middle East. We’ll have to withdraw, or reinstitute the draft. Only the Dixiecrats and Christian Coalition will have won, if they install their judges. Even your Texas buddy has no hopes of stopping that eventuality. And don’t bother tipping me, save your money to cover the new Bush sales taxes you middle-class types will have to pay.”
Shortly after the election, Dr. Paranoia, eager to get the Republican slant, hied to the Midtown bar where the Texan who knows holds court. He was there, just finishing a barside dinner (very popular among the doers nowadays), and spoke, without waiting for the question.
“So, mighty Kerry struck out. It is the moral values, stupid, as James Carville would say, if he did not have a lost election foot in his mouth. But moral values is really a code phrase for something else, and do not assume it is ignorance and irrationality. It is what ACLU in its “take no prisoners” wisdom would call bigotry. Primarily it is unwillingness of a majority of Americans, including Liberals, to sacrifice the traditional concept of marriage. A Liberal friend, father of sons, voted for Bush because he did not like the prospect of his boys going to camp with a gay counselor. The ACLU’s stopping the use of schools and public facilities for Scout meetings galled him, a man who has pleasant relationships with gay colleagues and friends and who supports the social rights for domestic companions. Just look at the margins of vote in the 11 states authorizing their heterosexual marriage amendments to their constitutions! This could be the death knell to FDR’s party, unless they learn to dance.
“Those four activist judges really doomed the Democratic Party, already balancing on the edge of the knife, not willing to give up on the extreme civil rights leftists' and the antiwar lot's positions. They staked Bush with an unexpected potent platform to launch a campaign issue that may have given him a 3.5 million-vote majority, despite his ruinous Iraq strategy and his plutocrat-driven economic and environment policies. You can expect more. And it was not launched by the Religious Right. The latter, spurred by the al-Qaida condemnation of our moral decay, drove a few more nails in the coffin, getting Bush votes by objecting to stem cell research (a surprisingly heavily protested issue, drawing on a fear that embryos will be created for research) and to legal abortions, and expressing revulsion against shock jocks and to sex on TV and in movies. In the South, the code phrase also blurred the heavy remainder of the Dixiecrat morality, which is probably why the Massachusetts abolitionist Kerry’s personal religious and social beliefs did not cut any swath. Edwards the rip-off lawyer, a bad choice, did not help the image.
“Can the Democrats regain ground? Not unless the Pres really messes up, I mean royally, or reopens the draft. No, they cannot offer a clear simple program, a la Bush, there’s too much diversity in your flip-flop party, as the Bushists would characterize it. Hillary, a war supporter, has a small advantage, and also negatives of her own.
“No, the Democratic best hope is in a split of the Republican party, a Ross Perot-like reform faction spoiling the unity. There are many of us Conservatives, who voted for Bush with one hand while holding our noses with the other. We have the Budget savers, the graduated income tax believers and the environmentalists, all of whom hating the plutos that ruin the party, those businessmen and CEOs who do not care for long-term national, stockholder and client service and push disastrous policies that will earn them bonuses. We also have people who believe in the world cooperating in the fight against terrorism, not the “if you are not with me, you are against me” Bush doctrine. Clinton was a middle-of-the-road non-welfare moderate internationalist Republican type, and he won.
“This George Soros is one of our type, a non-doctrinaire, a mostly conservative capitalist. Maybe he should quietly look to support the Republican protesters, John McCain, or whoever else comes forth; the Giulianis and Patakis are too career-driven to jump up and foster any Reform movements. That’s all. I’ve got to go.” And the Texan left.
Dr P. and the bartender were speechless, staring at each other. “Let me give you a tip,” finally the man spoke while wiping his bar.” He’s worried that this Presidential term may be the a doomsday event for the Republican Party, with a forever war that drags on and that kills Americans and Iraqis, with no volunteers joining to be exposed to death in the Middle East. We’ll have to withdraw, or reinstitute the draft. Only the Dixiecrats and Christian Coalition will have won, if they install their judges. Even your Texas buddy has no hopes of stopping that eventuality. And don’t bother tipping me, save your money to cover the new Bush sales taxes you middle-class types will have to pay.”
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
New Yorkers campaigning for Kerry in Pennsylvania
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
A T&V Country neighbor tells this story:We arrived in Allentown PA on Halloween Day, and were stuck behind the parade on Hamilton Street, the main drag. A’town, a small metropolis of 120,000 souls, in the Lehigh Valley 80 miles from NYC, had many shuttered windows on the main streets, but the people seemed cheerful. Our objective was theAllentown Manor, an abandoned home for seniors (another sad story) on the 400 block, the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s KerryCampaign, contacted through a flyer we had been handed in passing through Grand Central Station. But the parade just about destroyed our schedule, by forcing us to crawl around clutches of reckless kids and handcarts of balloon and stuffed toy peddlers. We decided to back out, check in at our hotel and report to duty refreshed.
Returning to the manor, there was a crowd in the cheerful front plaza, all members of a poll watchers class, a battlefront duty that every volunteer craved. We were late arrivals, and resigned ourselves to do tasks in the room full of a dozen or two of label stickers and envelope lickers, short of chairs,with volunteers sitting on the floor with lapfuls of material, many of them middle-aged and older, New Yorkers predominating.
But we were needed for a more demanding duty -checking the list of recently registered voters against phone books, for numbers, and calling Information when the books failed. Wisely looking fordaylight, we went into a converted dining hall, where people at long tables were busily ringing up potential volunteers, and hunted for phones. The insruments, borrowed from the patients’ rooms, mostly worked, but the books were largely useless, and our team kept calling Information. The phone company people soon caught on, and most held us to a two-searchmaximum, though some, sympathetic to the cause, let us go on with more. The trick in asking for extra numbers per call (less costly to the campaign andmore productive) was to forestall the operator from switching you to the answering machine, which meant automatic disconnect after the announcement.An important dodge, of getting the numbers of the mostly female registrants, was to provide the last name, then give the street address instead of the first name, which unearthed otherwise hidden connections.
Around us were the experienced campaign phoners, calling people who had volunteered to transport the disabled, and urging registered Democrats to do their duty. The callers’ printouts were 40 to the page, and my neighborMatt, a physician from DC, a soft closer, had mostly positive responses,with two hang-ups per sheet. Occasionally the phoners took breaks, talking about the undecided, which still perplexed us. One caller, a NYC neighbor from Lexington Avenue, in Allentown at the risk of destroying her 40-year marriage with a Bush-supporting financial man, was particularly distraught with the people who were still so flabby in the face of the tragedy that she perceived the nation would suffer with the reelection of Republicans. As for her personal calamity, she opined that her grown kids would take her in.
The day volunteers from New York at 6 PM were summoned to their bus for a return trip, while we stayed on, alongside the locals. One, a former West Sider, was remarkably good in pacifying Democrats with right-to-life hesitations. Full of pizza and volunteer-cooked lasagna, we skipped dinner and retired to a night of wall-to-wall political commercials, mainly Swift-Boat, over and over. New Yorkers have no idea what TV grind they have been spared.
Next day, having learned the scripts by listening, our group was promoted to calling registered Democrats, all day long. Actually, calling turned out to be a somewhat downer, with call-weary respondents hanging up. We hyped each other by telling war stories: I made a convert at a wrong number, someone else talked a babysitter (she was registered) into voting.
By Election Day we graduated to canvassing, ringing doorbells. The volunteers’ spirits were boosted by cheerful leaders, who gave us remarkably clear street maps and printouts of registered Democrats that they had assembled during the night By now tireless Matt was advanced to leader status, instructing canvassers. Never get into a fight was the rule.I found that easy, the hard part was walking through suburbia, for miles of hills, and climbing doorsteps. Our team resolved the problem by driving and temporarily parking. An amazing number of adults were at home, very disheartening, indicating job losses. More so was to find that in four ofthe 70-odd homes visited, adult Democrats, after telling that they had voted, silently smiled when asked whether they had picked Kerry. We exchanged grim clenched-teeth wishes of good luck; obviously the Kerry economics message was not heeded. How had we failed?
By the time out list was completed, nightfall was nearing. Some leaders were still looking for volunteers to drive to a phone bank in nearby Bethlehem, down Nazareth Road – Biblical names abound – but we were tweary of slammed down receivers, as most voters had been called three or fourtimes, and opted to check out of our hotel prematurely and head back to NYC in the dark. Politics is tiring, more so when you lose.
A T&V Country neighbor tells this story:We arrived in Allentown PA on Halloween Day, and were stuck behind the parade on Hamilton Street, the main drag. A’town, a small metropolis of 120,000 souls, in the Lehigh Valley 80 miles from NYC, had many shuttered windows on the main streets, but the people seemed cheerful. Our objective was theAllentown Manor, an abandoned home for seniors (another sad story) on the 400 block, the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s KerryCampaign, contacted through a flyer we had been handed in passing through Grand Central Station. But the parade just about destroyed our schedule, by forcing us to crawl around clutches of reckless kids and handcarts of balloon and stuffed toy peddlers. We decided to back out, check in at our hotel and report to duty refreshed.
Returning to the manor, there was a crowd in the cheerful front plaza, all members of a poll watchers class, a battlefront duty that every volunteer craved. We were late arrivals, and resigned ourselves to do tasks in the room full of a dozen or two of label stickers and envelope lickers, short of chairs,with volunteers sitting on the floor with lapfuls of material, many of them middle-aged and older, New Yorkers predominating.
But we were needed for a more demanding duty -checking the list of recently registered voters against phone books, for numbers, and calling Information when the books failed. Wisely looking fordaylight, we went into a converted dining hall, where people at long tables were busily ringing up potential volunteers, and hunted for phones. The insruments, borrowed from the patients’ rooms, mostly worked, but the books were largely useless, and our team kept calling Information. The phone company people soon caught on, and most held us to a two-searchmaximum, though some, sympathetic to the cause, let us go on with more. The trick in asking for extra numbers per call (less costly to the campaign andmore productive) was to forestall the operator from switching you to the answering machine, which meant automatic disconnect after the announcement.An important dodge, of getting the numbers of the mostly female registrants, was to provide the last name, then give the street address instead of the first name, which unearthed otherwise hidden connections.
Around us were the experienced campaign phoners, calling people who had volunteered to transport the disabled, and urging registered Democrats to do their duty. The callers’ printouts were 40 to the page, and my neighborMatt, a physician from DC, a soft closer, had mostly positive responses,with two hang-ups per sheet. Occasionally the phoners took breaks, talking about the undecided, which still perplexed us. One caller, a NYC neighbor from Lexington Avenue, in Allentown at the risk of destroying her 40-year marriage with a Bush-supporting financial man, was particularly distraught with the people who were still so flabby in the face of the tragedy that she perceived the nation would suffer with the reelection of Republicans. As for her personal calamity, she opined that her grown kids would take her in.
The day volunteers from New York at 6 PM were summoned to their bus for a return trip, while we stayed on, alongside the locals. One, a former West Sider, was remarkably good in pacifying Democrats with right-to-life hesitations. Full of pizza and volunteer-cooked lasagna, we skipped dinner and retired to a night of wall-to-wall political commercials, mainly Swift-Boat, over and over. New Yorkers have no idea what TV grind they have been spared.
Next day, having learned the scripts by listening, our group was promoted to calling registered Democrats, all day long. Actually, calling turned out to be a somewhat downer, with call-weary respondents hanging up. We hyped each other by telling war stories: I made a convert at a wrong number, someone else talked a babysitter (she was registered) into voting.
By Election Day we graduated to canvassing, ringing doorbells. The volunteers’ spirits were boosted by cheerful leaders, who gave us remarkably clear street maps and printouts of registered Democrats that they had assembled during the night By now tireless Matt was advanced to leader status, instructing canvassers. Never get into a fight was the rule.I found that easy, the hard part was walking through suburbia, for miles of hills, and climbing doorsteps. Our team resolved the problem by driving and temporarily parking. An amazing number of adults were at home, very disheartening, indicating job losses. More so was to find that in four ofthe 70-odd homes visited, adult Democrats, after telling that they had voted, silently smiled when asked whether they had picked Kerry. We exchanged grim clenched-teeth wishes of good luck; obviously the Kerry economics message was not heeded. How had we failed?
By the time out list was completed, nightfall was nearing. Some leaders were still looking for volunteers to drive to a phone bank in nearby Bethlehem, down Nazareth Road – Biblical names abound – but we were tweary of slammed down receivers, as most voters had been called three or fourtimes, and opted to check out of our hotel prematurely and head back to NYC in the dark. Politics is tiring, more so when you lose.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
CB5 has a dream of improving the city
CB5 has a dream of improving the city
After the summer hiatus, I am catching up with the minutes of our Community Boards, approved following their August vacation break. CB5, in its July 8, 2004 meeting, presented an evaluation of the communitys needs call it a wish list to the City. This is an abbreviated version of six pages of what some of our fellow T&V Country people think this district requires. Not a dream city of the future, just everyday things. You will be able to view the entire abridged proclamation on my blog, accessible through www.dobelis.com. Feel free to write letters to T&V and identify your concerns. CB people are paying attention.
Manhattan Community Board Five represents the central business districts of New York City including midtown Manhattan. We also represent residential areas with diverse needs. Our district is the center of New Yorks tourism industry. Times Square, the Empire State Building and three of the regions transportation hubs; Grand Central Station, Penn Station, and the Port Authority Terminal, all fall within or lie on the border of CB5. The majority of New York Citys more than 50 million visitors each year will walk our streets. We strive to accommodate the residents, businesses and tourists of our community.
Every day our district faces extreme congestion. Construction continues throughout our district. At the same time the libraries, parks, museums, and other institutions serving our area are vital to the cultural health of the City, as is our districts ability to maintain the tourism that is essential to our economic future..
Noise is by far the most frequent complaint that the Board receives from its constituents. We are privileged to have several Business Improvement Districts in our area and we feel they are successful in providing better services within their borders. We endorse the BIDs and the work they have been doing and are encouraged by the Mayors willingness to allow increases in the BID budgets.
There is an increased need for basic services for the homeless, affordable quality housing, preventive mental health services, childcare, foster care, drop-in-centers, outreach programs and improved shelter programs. The construction, renovation and restoration of affordable housing must be expedited. We recommend that the various agencies responsible for housing integrate strategies. There is an urgent need in our City for the development of programs that can provide permanent, affordable housing more quickly and more efficiently than is done under currently existing programs. Conditions still exist that endanger the health and safety of the Citys residents and jeopardize the integrity of many buildings. Code enforcement inspectors should be increased. Safety of our water supply and air quality monitoring is a stronger need today.
A recent change in the law has transferred the responsibility for the condition of the Citys sidewalks from the Dept. of Transportation to private building owners. The City should facilitate training for property owners to understand and assume this new responsibility and how to properly address sidewalk conditions. Prompt repair of potholes, cracks, replacement of street signs and the painting of lane markings are essential and should not be delayed. All repairs must be complete and flush with existing pavement.
Traffic problems continue to plague our district. The City should undertake programs to discourage the use of private vehicles in Midtown. . The City should limit hours of operation and access to certain streets for large trucks in Midtown; this would reduce peak hour congestion and air pollution. Car-pooling restrictions should be reviewed and put back in place.
CB5 has a continuing problem of noise and traffic caused by the proliferation of discos and nightclubs. The Traffic departments revenue producing Hit Squad of Traffic Enforcement Agents, who work at trouble spots during the hours of 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., should be continued. We also support nighttime towing and ticketing. Unsafe bicyclists continue to present serious traffic problems.
We need our Parks to be clean and well maintained. Renovations must be carried out with input from the community and kept consistent with agreed-upon plans. There is a need for additional active childrens play space, specifically in Union Square Park. Both Union Square Park and Madison Square Park require full-time staff.
Education.The overall success of the Citys schools has a great impact on our community and the lives of all New Yorkers. The inadequacy of the Citys education system hinders the Citys job development, economy and anti-crime efforts. Adequate funds for qualified teachers in all classrooms, after-school enhancement programs, E.S.L. initiatives, proper class size, and tutoring at the primary level is necessary. Class size should be kept small enough to allow learning. Capital must be provided to ensure the renovation or replacement of decaying schools. A better system for controlling costs of school operations is critical. The Board opposes school vouchers. We are also concerned with the rising cost of tuition within the City University of New York system..
More, about police, fire and health, in a subsequent column.
After the summer hiatus, I am catching up with the minutes of our Community Boards, approved following their August vacation break. CB5, in its July 8, 2004 meeting, presented an evaluation of the communitys needs call it a wish list to the City. This is an abbreviated version of six pages of what some of our fellow T&V Country people think this district requires. Not a dream city of the future, just everyday things. You will be able to view the entire abridged proclamation on my blog, accessible through www.dobelis.com. Feel free to write letters to T&V and identify your concerns. CB people are paying attention.
Manhattan Community Board Five represents the central business districts of New York City including midtown Manhattan. We also represent residential areas with diverse needs. Our district is the center of New Yorks tourism industry. Times Square, the Empire State Building and three of the regions transportation hubs; Grand Central Station, Penn Station, and the Port Authority Terminal, all fall within or lie on the border of CB5. The majority of New York Citys more than 50 million visitors each year will walk our streets. We strive to accommodate the residents, businesses and tourists of our community.
Every day our district faces extreme congestion. Construction continues throughout our district. At the same time the libraries, parks, museums, and other institutions serving our area are vital to the cultural health of the City, as is our districts ability to maintain the tourism that is essential to our economic future..
Noise is by far the most frequent complaint that the Board receives from its constituents. We are privileged to have several Business Improvement Districts in our area and we feel they are successful in providing better services within their borders. We endorse the BIDs and the work they have been doing and are encouraged by the Mayors willingness to allow increases in the BID budgets.
There is an increased need for basic services for the homeless, affordable quality housing, preventive mental health services, childcare, foster care, drop-in-centers, outreach programs and improved shelter programs. The construction, renovation and restoration of affordable housing must be expedited. We recommend that the various agencies responsible for housing integrate strategies. There is an urgent need in our City for the development of programs that can provide permanent, affordable housing more quickly and more efficiently than is done under currently existing programs. Conditions still exist that endanger the health and safety of the Citys residents and jeopardize the integrity of many buildings. Code enforcement inspectors should be increased. Safety of our water supply and air quality monitoring is a stronger need today.
A recent change in the law has transferred the responsibility for the condition of the Citys sidewalks from the Dept. of Transportation to private building owners. The City should facilitate training for property owners to understand and assume this new responsibility and how to properly address sidewalk conditions. Prompt repair of potholes, cracks, replacement of street signs and the painting of lane markings are essential and should not be delayed. All repairs must be complete and flush with existing pavement.
Traffic problems continue to plague our district. The City should undertake programs to discourage the use of private vehicles in Midtown. . The City should limit hours of operation and access to certain streets for large trucks in Midtown; this would reduce peak hour congestion and air pollution. Car-pooling restrictions should be reviewed and put back in place.
CB5 has a continuing problem of noise and traffic caused by the proliferation of discos and nightclubs. The Traffic departments revenue producing Hit Squad of Traffic Enforcement Agents, who work at trouble spots during the hours of 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., should be continued. We also support nighttime towing and ticketing. Unsafe bicyclists continue to present serious traffic problems.
We need our Parks to be clean and well maintained. Renovations must be carried out with input from the community and kept consistent with agreed-upon plans. There is a need for additional active childrens play space, specifically in Union Square Park. Both Union Square Park and Madison Square Park require full-time staff.
Education.The overall success of the Citys schools has a great impact on our community and the lives of all New Yorkers. The inadequacy of the Citys education system hinders the Citys job development, economy and anti-crime efforts. Adequate funds for qualified teachers in all classrooms, after-school enhancement programs, E.S.L. initiatives, proper class size, and tutoring at the primary level is necessary. Class size should be kept small enough to allow learning. Capital must be provided to ensure the renovation or replacement of decaying schools. A better system for controlling costs of school operations is critical. The Board opposes school vouchers. We are also concerned with the rising cost of tuition within the City University of New York system..
More, about police, fire and health, in a subsequent column.
