I'VE GOT MINE

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Sep 3, 2009 9:34 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Democracy for New York, dfaROCHESTER, DFA Night School, Fair Share For Health Care Initiative

When I attended my local Congressman's health care town hall meeting I was immediately struck by the hatred  and selfish attitudes that filled the 1000 seat auditorium.  I endured 4 hours of comments that proved  two simple points.  1.  The overwhelming majority were incredibly selfish and 2.  Misinformation ruled their thoughts and comments. 

While sitting there, sad and depressed thinking about how ashamed I was of my fellow Americans, I kept thinking of one of my favorite songs.  After that town hall meeting I came home and looked at the lyrics.  Sure enough, the song perfectly described the attitude of the majority of people attending.

Glenn Frey's I've Got Mine

I’VE GOT MINE

Someone’s sleeping on the sidewalk
As the winter sun goes down
Someone’s drinking cold champagne
In another part of town
And the only thing he thinks about
As he sips his glass of wine
“It sure feels good sittin’ here tonight
Now that I’ve got mine”

I’ve got mine, I’ve got mine
This isn’t such a bitter world
‘Cause I’ve got mine

Someone’s wandering the streets tonight
No way to warm his hands
Someone’s turning up their fireplace
Making travel plans
His mind is on some sandy beach
Where the sun is gonna shine
He thinks, “I don’t have to hang around
Now that I’ve got mine”

You see them in their limousines
You see the way they stare
They don’t see us looking back
Because they don’t really care,

They say,
“I’ve got mine, I’ve got mine
The world is as it’s meant to be
‘Cause I’ve got mine”

So I make a small donation
What more can I do?
You know I didn’t make this world
I’m in it just like you
I’ve worked all my life on this house of cards
To keep it all in line
I can’t take care of everyone
Now that I’ve got mine

There’s another kind of poverty
That only rich men know
A moral malnutrition
That starves their very souls
And they can’t be saved by money
They’re all running out of time
And all the while they’re thinking,
“It’s OK, ’cause I’ve got mine”

I’ve got mine, I’ve got mine
I don’t want a thing to change
‘Cause I’ve got mine, I’ve got mine

The Ted Kennedy/dfaROCHESTER experience

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Aug 29, 2009 7:47 PM EDT

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER, Democracy for New York

It was late February 2004...just days before the New York primary.  Dean was no longer actively campaigning.   The local county Democratic committee had advertised a rally for all candidates to take place on Saturday morning.  Representatives from all local presidential campaigns were supposedly welcome.  As the weekend approached, the county Dems were changing their plans.  The location for the rally changed.  And then on the morning of the rally, we noticed that it was being called a Kerry rally featuring Ted Kennedy. 

While most of the magic had left the Dean campaign by then, there were still some diehard supporters.  Many who were no longer actively supporting Dean were supporting John Edwards.  Even with the change in venue and a change of the intended purpose of the rally, Dean and Edwards supporter went to the rally anyway.  Dean supporters in their Dean sweatshirts, pins and baseball caps...the same for the Edwards supporters.  But there was a problem...upon entering the union hall where the rally was to take place, we were asked to return Dean/Edwards buttons and baseball caps.  We were also asked to open our coats to expose our Dean sweatshirts.  We were refused entry to the rally because we refused to take off our Dean-wear. 

Outraged?  Of course!  These were members of our own party--the inclusive Democrats--barring us from entering.  Always ones to take lemons and make lemonade, we went back outside, went to our cars and got out Dean or Edwards signs.  We then took up a position across the street from the union hall.  We attracted reporters and others on their way to the event.

When the event was about to start, and car traffic on the street and parking lot died down, we noticed a minivan approaching.  The minivan slowed even more as it was about to turn into the parking lot...and that's when the window rolled down and a head popped out.  It was Ted Kennedy.  He saw us out in the cold, not knowing the circumstances, and shouted to us to join him inside.  We followed the minivan towards the parking lot...the van continued, but we were stopped by the goons on the side walk.  We explained that Senator Kennedy had just invited us to join him inside.  The men simply said "Ted Kennedy doesn't own the building".  Again we were turned away, yet we had just had a Ted Kennedy experience...and that made everything OK.

Not The Change I Was Expecting

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Aug 10, 2009 7:38 PM EDT

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

The September 2009 issue of the Advocate is out, no pun intended.  The cover features a stylized photo of Obama and the word NOPE under it.  Without reading the story, the message is immediately and undeniably negative. 

The biggest change I'm running into since the swearing in of Obama as our President-after-Bush is the fighting and negativity among Democrats.  It's downright scary at times.  So scary, in fact, that many of my fellow activists are now among those people I try very hard to avoid. 

Enough people find it necessary to totally trash President Obama because he hasn't done everything they expected or they wanted in his first 6 months in office.  It seems everyone expected immediate perfection and now are thoroughly disappointed with everything that is less than perfect in their eyes. 

The biggest dividing line that I see is in the health care issue.  For so many people, it is the "single-payer or nothing at all" issue.  While someone like me will accept strong reform, stopping short of single-payer, as long as it includes the "public option".  But already, I feel as if many fellow Democrats have written me off because of this more relaxed stand on single-payer. 

The gay community is growing more bitter about gay marriage and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".  While these are extremely important issues, as a gay man, I still say, "it's the economy, stupid".  I could lose my job in October and it is far more important for me to have continued employment and health care than it is to have the right to marry.  Food or marriage...think about it...and prioritize...and realize that Obama is on the right track.

Obama has been in office just over 6 months.  Give the guy a break.  Instead of immediately joining the ranks of those who are cutting him down, why not simply offer him and your other representatives your support on the issues important to you.  If Obama and other elected officials don't hear from you on a continual basis, they will not know what you are thinking. 

Our President needs our support and guidance.  Cutting him down in public just makes the Republican hopeful for victory in 2012.  Think about it.

Democracy For America needs to support Jonathan Tasini for US Senate in NY

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Jul 3, 2009 2:49 PM EDT

Linked to groups: Fair Share For Health Care Initiative, dfaROCHESTER, Democracy for New York

I really can't think of anyone who is more of a true, hard core progressive than Jonathan Tasini.  He has already run for Senate once, in the primary against Hillary Clinton.  In 2010, he will challenge Kirsten Gillibrand.  I will admit to not knowing too much about Kirsten Gillibrand, but I feel like I know Tasini as much as a supporter can know a candidate. 

dfaROCHESTER hosted a meeting with Tasini when he ran the first time and collectively, we were impressed.  I have continued to follow Tasini and I continued to be impressed. 

Check out his online announcement....he mentions the "great one"--Howard Dean.

http://www.jonathantasini.com/

With freedom comes responsibility

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Mar 7, 2009 10:34 AM EST

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

The big news this week in the Rochester, NY area was the death of a 19 year old SUNY Geneseo student.  It seems he drank for 3 days and had a blood alcohol level at least 7 times the legal limit. 

Of course all fingers are pointing at the unofficial fraternity PIGS.  They caused this death.  They provided the alcohol and the atmosphere to drink, drink, drink.  Right? 

I understand that the first reaction of parents would be to question and blame.  But what about the rest of us?  Are we going to fall under that old American tradition of placing blame everywhere except the most obvious place?  Since the student is dead, we must look to others in order to find justice and revenge.  That's the American way.  Of course, none of this would be complete without criminal charges and a civil lawsuit.  We have to make examples of those responsible so this type of senseless death never happens again.  Right?

For me, there are three possible explanations for the death of a student due to alcohol poisoning. 

1.  Because of mental defect, the young man did not have the capacity to understand the relationship between drinking too much and serious health concerns that could lead to death.  However, since all reports indicate that this young man was quite intelligent, I think we need to discard this explanation.

2.  This could be a very plain and simple premeditated murder.  The young man, taken and held against his will was forced to consume so much alcohol that it resulted in his death.  Since there are no reports that the man was bound and physically forced to consume alcohol, again we must discard this explanation.

3.  Finally, the easy explanation that no one wants to believe or accept.  Suicide.  The young man, for whatever reason, wanted to join this unsanctioned frat and to do that he had to leave his intelligence and reason at the door.  He had to start drinking and not stop until he was dead.  All indications suggest he was free to leave at any time or free to stop drinking at any time.  But he didn't leave and he didn't stop.  This young man committed suicide, though no one will ever call it that.  He decided to drink.  He decided to keep on drinking.  He decided to go along to get what he wanted.  He took his own life.  He has only himself to blame.  Hard to swallow?  Absolutely. 

As a society, we cannot keep blaming others for actions and results that can only be caused by one's own actions. As long as we continue to blame others when others are not to blame, we will continue to see the same results.  Sure there are facilitators out there who will purchase alcohol for under aged drinkers, but those drinkers would get alcohol in other ways if necessary. It all rests with the individual, not the group.

Ultimately, we have freedom....and the responsibility that must go along with it.

Random Thoughts

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Mar 1, 2009 7:59 AM EST

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I'm loving digital TV.  While using a digital converter resulted in losing my Buffalo, NY and Toronto channels, I gained extra PBS channels and those are awesome.  I now watch PBS 95% of the time. 

Two recent shows stand out in my mind, if only for some much needed perspective.  I just saw an episode of Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda.  The show was about 5 years old and it was about the emerging alternative fuels for the auto industry.  When Alan asked a GM executive why GM wasn't pushing harder or working faster to get hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells to market, the executive said it was all about profits.  The GM exec said that stockholders demanded profits and alt fuel vehicles could not compete with profitable SUVs.  This was just 5 years ago.  Where did all the profits go?  Has GM learned a lesson about looking to the future and planning for disasters, like the steep rise in gasoline prices?

Last night I watched Frontline about American soldiers returning from Iraq.  The show dealt with things such as post traumatic stress disorder.  I think the show really should have been dealing with patriotic-induced homefront denial.  Parents interviewed for this episode literally had their heads in the sand.  First, they were overwhelmed by their sense of pride that their sons signed up to go to Iraq.  This pride overwhelmed any sense of fear that families might have had.  Upon returning home, one mother commented that the crowd of 200 men, women and children waving tiny American flags was just what her son needed to see.  Really? Flag waving fixes everything? 

Another mother commented that she was amazed that there wasn't as much as a scratch on her son.  For that she was relieved.  Yet, there is the issue of blindness.  Parents seemed to be totally blind to the thought that their sons came home so totally damaged that they allowed themselves the luxury of believing the heavy drinking, violent tempers, mood swings and depression were to be expected and that the military had pre-screened everyone and those needing help were getting help. 

Unfortunately, it appears the general thinking is that going to war creates instant heros, when, in fact, war only creates damaged people...sometimes damaged beyond repair.  When their sons committed suicide, parents kept saying they never saw it coming.  Military buddies of those who took their own lives were surprised as well.  Why does this surprise anyone?  Have most Americans shut down their imaginations so they cannot think of the horrors of war?  I certainly believe parents lie awake at night hoping and praying their sons and daughters are not physically injured or killed.  But do these same parents put themselves in their children's boots?  Do they understand their children have been ordered to kill people.  Do they think about the death that surrounds all soldiers and do they wonder how this might damage someone?

Personally, I have thought about war--alot.  I will admit to knowing I could probably use great force to protect my family from a clear and present danger.  But what I cannot comprehend is going off to a foreign country and being ordered to shoot and kill people--strangers in a strange country.  Did the people who should be killed actually do anything?  In war, I guess one does not stop to think.....

A 30/40 Vision

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Feb 18, 2009 11:40 AM EST

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

When I first became aware of Howard Dean--the little known former Governor of Vermont running for President--I would listen to his speeches and I would listen to him answer questions.  At first I thought he was in trouble in the way he answered questions.  It seemed that maybe he was dodging questions just like a seasoned political pro.  But something else was going on--something quite unique.  When asked about crime and the need to build more prisons, Howard would start talking about his Success By Six program.  It took some patience, but I finally got it.  Dean saw the entire picture, past, present & future.  His mind tied everything--even things that seemed unrelated--together. 

Unfortunately, I'm not convinced we are seeing that type of vision from Obama--at least not yet.  Or maybe it is just another case where the ultimate goal is still hidden by clouds--for me.  Maybe Obama is tying everything together.  Let's hope.

One topic that needs vision is the continued effort/need to bail out the auto industry.  Once again, GM and Chrysler are extending a hand and asking for money.  I hope it is as humiliating for them as it should be.  High powered and highly paid executives crawling to Washington DC to admit their management has been a failure for decades.  (Don't worry, I don't really believe Detroit executives think they are failures--they are too out of touch to think or believe that.)

The warnings have again been sounded.  GM and Chrysler executives revealed the cars they believe will fuel their turnaround and those vehicles reveal more "head in the sand" mentality.  GM showed off production photos of the Cadillac CTS Coupe--an expensive, luxury car that cannot be considered fuel efficient by any stretch of the imagination.  Chrysler was even worse, showing off their redesigned large Jeep and Chrysler's biggest car, the 300.  Again, neither inexpensive or fuel efficient.  What is the message they are trying to send?  "WE DON'T GET IT?"  Where are the small fuel efficient cars?  Where's the future?  Where's the concern for the environment?

I think Obama needs to take an entirely new approach to the auto industry bailout--one that centers on the consumer, not the unions or the car companies.  Whether Americans know it or not, the easiest way to have more money is to conserve it.  One great way to conserve money would be to buy less gasoline.  One way to buy less gasoline is to drive less, but the more realistic approach would be to put programs in place that urge Americans to trade in their SUVs that get 15/20 city/highway mpg for something American made that gets 30/40 city/highway mpg.  Many will automatically say this just isn't possible--but then, many said Obama could never get elected.  Whether the new fuel efficient car is a hybrid or a diesel or just extremely small, think of the money left over from not having to pay so much for gas.  That kind of cash is an instant kick to the economy.  It is extra money consumers would have every week. 

Obama needs to encourage citizens to become more fuel efficient.  That needs to be the cornerstone of any stimulus for the auto industry.  I believe Obama needs to also judge the progress of the auto industry the entire time he is in office.  All too often, each new model or redesign is larger and heavier.  Why?  Shouldn't we view progress as cars staying the same size, but weighing less and getting better gas mileage with each redesign?

If this is truly the time for change, let's have trickle up economics.  Let's encourage consumers to trade in those SUVs.  Let's show consumers a great way to have extra cash in their pockets to further spur the economy.  Let's reduce our need for Middle Eastern oil.  Let's help the environment.  Let's focus on the entire picture--the past, present and future.

The Incredible Words of the Incredible Stevie Nicks

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Feb 15, 2009 6:43 PM EST

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

And so, as a poet and a writer of songs~ I dedicate this poem that was inspired by him~
to him~
Our brave new
President…

John and Bobby and Martin
Would be so proud~

With Love,
Stevie Nicks

        The Kennedy’s

I had a fragile dream
In a great house in the Hamptons
I’d been there before
Singing songs ~ doing benefits
I was in a room alone
Putting on my make-up
Like so many things have come to me,
The dress ~ came across the Persian carpet~
As I fell into the dress
A thought came to me
Into my heart~
“I have a dream”
And a door opened~
It’s time now~ they’re waiting
I turned around to face the music (the dreamers)
“I’m ready for the Kennedy’s~”

I don’t know if it was 1960 or 1963
Everything was timeless ~ even me
I wasn’t old~ I wasn’t young~
I was just ~ part of the dream.
A shadow walked with me ~ down the hall
It was Martin Luther King~
All in shadow ~ all before me
Overwhelmed by destiny
Someone said, “sing us a song”
“There’s the piano..
And handed me a drink~
The room was full of hope~
A song would set them free…

I sat at the piano
I stared at the shadows
I sang the words “I have a dream”
He wasn’t my old friend John ~ I didn’t know him…then
But he smiled at me
And I sang these words
“What ever it takes to be free”
I didn’t know these men~
But they knew me~

It was all symbolic,
Nothing was as it seemed.
They all left us in a single shot~
But they didn’t take the dream.
They were there in that house,
Discussing the future~
Drinking champagne.
I was just the piano player~
The voice ~ part of their dream.
I was 35 ~ or maybe I was 15~
It was just a night in the presence
Of Martin Luther King~
I was just a dreamer;
I was ready for the Kennedys…

I got up from the piano
I bowed my head
As I walked thru the room
They touched my hands
Write about hope and a change of plan~
Light up the world if you can~

Light the fire ~ start it over
Tell the world about the dream
Change the world ~ begin again
Start it up ~ make it real~
Back in the room where it all began
My heart began to hurt~

I remember the beauty of the Hamptons
The shadows playing in the sun
And a voice said “The dream is not over~”
“The dream has just begun~”
I spun around to another shadow
Slipping through the door~
My eyes opened ~ wide …
What is all this for?
The shadows said ~ “Don’t forget ~”
“What we were fighting for…”

      Stevie Nicks
      Thursday night Feb. 2008
       Sugar Grove, IL

Duet: Etheridge & Warren

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Feb 11, 2009 10:18 PM EST

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

Play Nice, Folks

We have no choice but to engage with the moderate majority of Americans. But rather than engage, too many of us are prone to attack, and messily at that. For instance, the most oft-repeated charge against Warren -- that he had compared homosexuality to incest and pedophilia -- was exaggerated. Asked in an interview if he thought gay marriage was equivalent to pedophilia and incest, Warren uttered, “I do.” Yet not long after those comments were publicized, Warren recorded a video clarifying his remarks, stating that what he meant to say was that redefining marriage could lead to the legalization of other, less benign relationships. Many people, myself included, may find this slippery-slope argument to be silly and cynical. Still, it’s not the same thing as alleging that gay people are morally equivalent to pedophiles or fathers who wish to elope with their children. Certainly, to mention these practices in the same breath as homosexuality is dog whistling, and it’s good that gay activists got Warren to recant. Yet even after his clarification, many continued to peddle the line that he’d equated homosexuality with incest and pedophilia in a way that was misleading and uncharitable.

Other aspects of the response to Prop. 8 have been similarly counterproductive. Looking at photos of the protests, I cringed every time I saw a poster with the equation prop. 8 = hate. A group of activists started a website titled Californians Against Hate, which lists donors to the Yes on 8 campaign. Of course, much of what is said about gay people could be qualified as hate speech. But not every argument against gay marriage is hateful. Many gay-marriage opponents support giving same-sex couples all the legal rights that straight ones enjoy but oppose calling these unions marriage for no more malevolent a reason than their stubborn resistance to change. We might disagree with these individuals, but in order to win legal equality we must persuade them, not hurl accusations of bigotry. 

For too long gay activists have operated as if the righteousness of our cause was self-evident. This attitude is certainly understandable, seeing that for gay people, the virtue of fighting for equality is obvious. It feels demeaning to have to seek validation from a world that remains averse to acknowledging our dignity. Yet this is the world in which we live. It’s a far-from-perfect place. But we’ve made great strides over the past few decades. And the situation gets better with each passing day. Reassuring demoralized African-Americans who never thought they would see the time when their government treated them equally, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He might as well have been speaking about the struggle for gay equality.

Reading the history of the African-American civil rights movement, one notices that what’s missing from today’s gay activism is a sense of optimism. The marchers on Selma and the men and women who sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counters in Greensboro were beaten, sprayed with water hoses, attacked with dogs, spat on, thrown into jail. But they waged those battles -- and emerged from the centuries of slavery, lynching, and terrorism preceding -- still preaching love and understanding toward the white people who treated them like animals. Such absolution seems unimaginable today, in part because so many gays reject religion, having realized at an early age that it supports an irrational rationale for homophobia. I’m not calling on the gay community to find God. But if we can capture the same equanimity displayed by the Freedom Riders and act with their sense of faith that the wind of history is at our back, we’ll do a better job persuading the persuadable.

Some activists have pointed to the civil rights–era boycott as an example of an effective protest tactic. It made sense for blacks to boycott a bus system that made them sit in the back. And it’s more than fair to boycott companies that contributed large amounts of money to revoke marriage equality. But what message does it send to moderate Americans when we demand the boycott of a mom-and-pop taco restaurant, one of whose employees gave a measly $100 to Yes on 8? Or call for the firing of a film festival director who donated $1,500? Such a tactic might be a good way to release pent-up anger, but it’s only that: self-gratification. We’re not winning any friends by ruining people’s careers. It’s thus heartening to hear that another national march on Washington is being planned for this fall, styled on King’s history-changing 1963 rally. Let’s hope the message is positive and focuses on why gay citizens deserve the same rights as straight ones and not on why this or that preacher, this or that restaurant employee, is a bigot. As my friend Daniel Blatt of the GayPatriot blog says, most Americans are not instinctively pro-gay or antigay; they’re anti-antigay. Let’s use that temperament to our advantage.

In 1991 a group of activists from the radical gay group Queer Nation infiltrated the set of The Arsenio Hall Show and interrupted the comedian’s opening routine, demanding to know why he didn’t invite more openly gay guests to be on his program. The audience booed the hecklers, and the stunt represented the last gasp of the in-your-face tactics that gay activists had utilized since Stonewall. In the 1980s, when a whole generation of gay men was dying and no one seemed to care, we needed angry, brash gay activists to wake up the rest of the country. But we don’t have to scream at Arsenio Hall to interview Gus Van Sant anymore -- and not just because Arsenio is washed up. That confrontational approach is as dated as the slogans on the Queer Nation T-shirts: Queer Liberation Not Assimilation. We need a gay movement that reflects its amazing successes, not its continuing frustrations.

For now, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld in a way he never imagined he would be paraphrased, we must go to war with the movement we have, not the one we might wish to have. And by recognizing the common humanity of those people who don’t recognize ours, we’ll make our movement stronger. “There are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise, that are beginning to listen,” Etheridge wrote of people like Warren. “They don’t hate us, they fear change.” That’s an inconvenient truth that the gay rights movement would do well to recognize. 

Keeping Our Money Where Our Mouths Say It Should Be

Written by: Thomas Janowski on Feb 8, 2009 11:32 AM EST

Linked to groups: dfaROCHESTER

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

An article in today's Rochester Democrat & Chronicle talks about money raised by newly elected congressmen since their victories in November 2008...yes, even the newly elected are again candidates for re-election in 2010 and the fundraisers have begun.  And I'm tired of it!

This being the era of change, the most important change needed is usually the one least talked about--clean money, clean elections.  I suppose it is a difficult topic to bring up even among Democrats and Progressives since we were so successful in the November 2008 election.  Unfortunately, the lesson learned in November 2008 is exactly what we saw in previous Republican victories--money talks and those with the most money usually win.

But progressives still talk about clean money, clean elections, though I guess I don't really hear a plan to reach that goal.  Obviously it needs to be a grassroots effort.  But what are the grassroots supposed to do?  I'm thinking the quickest, easiest and most cost effective solution is for the grassroots people to go cold turkey and cut off the supply of contributions to campaigns they support.  In the 2008 campaign cycle, I gave more money to candidates than I ever have in the past and I kept thinking to myself--"I'm a hypocrite!"

We need to start at the local level--our state legislators.  Our state legislators need to feel our desires financially.  We need to cut them off now.  We need to tell them we are cutting them off when it comes to campaign contributions.  We need them to know they need to support and pass clean money, clean elections legislation.  Our legislators need to know the key to their next victory will be public financing.  This is a movement that needs to grow and grow fast.  Everyone needs to know they can have our time, but not a dime!

We need to convince the newly politically active people--those who made first time campaign contributions to Obama--that they now must withhold their money from candidates.  The grassroots need to hold the current political process hostage until our legislators negotiate a settlement--CLEAN MONEY, CLEAN ELECTIONS.