Why I Do Not Get Tea Parties

Today is the NYC Tea Party and a few of my republican friends are going. The tag line for it is that we have to curb wasteful spending. I'm cool with that, but, as I wrote on my Twitter last night, I wanted to know what spending is bad (I asked for line numbers). As of this writing I had not gotten a response. The reason why there was so much opposition to the clean energy bill that was passed last week is the 600 page porkbarrell spending amendment. No one I personally know read the bill. That's fine, but don't go on attacking something with which you haven't familiarized yourself.

The reason for porkbarrell spending is (wait for it) to get re-elected. Legislators know that if they do not help their constituents, they won't be re-elected (shocking, huh).

The Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2008 included multimillion dollar spending (I forget the real number, but it was in the $100 million range) for the Army Corps of Engineers to drudge the Jones Inlet in New York. Who sponsored this legislation? Peter King (R-NY). The Jones Inlet is the collection of towns across the channel from Jones Beach, NY which consists of Lido Beach and Point Lookout. The total year-round residents total up to about 3000 (the summertime is double that) -the figures were estimated from the 2000 census. These two towns are beach communities.

Why do I give this example? Because I live in this area in the summer. In 2006, after 10 days of straight rain and a high tide, my basement was flooded (as well as just about everyone else's in the area). If it wasn't for the high tide and the ever growing coastal erosion, the septic systems would have brought the water down to the beach. It does not take a structural engineer to know that this flooding could have increased the possibility of mold growing as well as hurt the structural integrity of the houses. How was this solved? We got more sand on the beach.

If someone from, say Idaho, read the provision in the 2008 Budget and saw that millions of tax dollars are going to small beach communities, they would likely get rather angry.

Legislators know that 'bringing home the pork' will remind their constituents that the person that legislator got their friend employed at the new post office; their brother got his Social Security check; they protected the structural integrity of his house.

Is there wasteful spending? Yes. But not all spending is bad. Some actually helps the locals of that district. Unless you are from that area and understand the way of life there, you cannot be so critical of porkbarrell spending.

I will leave you with a quote from my NYC Politics professor from last night:
"Health Care reform will cost $1 Trillion over 10 years, but, in 6 months, we have given $1 Trillion to the banks."

An Open Question

A few days ago, Katie Naranjo and Jamarr Brown launched their campaign website for President and Vice President, respectively, of College Democrats of America. The CDA Constitution requires that the President and Vice President be of opposite sexes?. My question is: what happens if one of the two is transgendered/transsexual? The Democratic Party is supposed to support people of any sexuality, but how do we as a party determine a person's sex?

In coalition with PSJ and Anti-War

If you are around the Bronx, there is a protest taking place tomorrow at Fordham Road. This is happening in response to Senator Pedro Espada's switch to the Republican Party that is really make things crazy in the Bronx political scene. If you are around tomorrow, this is an important thing to be involved in as a member of the community.

Protest Senator Pedro Espada's
Betrayal of Bronx Residents
Friday, June 12, at 11:30 a.m.
400 E. Fordham Road

In front of Senator Espada's empty "District Office"

By joining with the Senate Republicans, Espada ensures the defeat of an important bill that would have protected tenants and affordable housing in New York!

Bronx tenants are likely to face serious challenges finding stable, safe, and affordable housing. Recently, Bronx tenants and their allies had been hopeful that a Democratic controlled State Senate would pass important legislation that would help protect tenants and preserve affordable apartments. This legislation would have been especially important in Senator Espada's district, which has 77,000 rent-regulated apartments, the majority of which are occupied by Latino and working class families.

In handing the State Senate over to Republican Leadership, Pedro Espada has directly halted legislation, which would have protected all 77,000 of those rent regulated apartments in his district, and all over New York City.

Tenants and other constituents of Senator Espada's district are also angry by the disregard that their Senator has shown them by failing to open an office in his district where he can offer services to the constituents he claims to represent. This is particularly offensive, given that it is well known that Senator Espada lives in the wealthy suburb of Mamaroneck, far outside of his Bronx district.

Tenants are offended by the fact the Pedro Espada is falsely claiming to
act in the name of his constituents and of Latino empowerment. Instead of fighting to pass legislation to support his tenant-heavy district, he
fought to take power for himself!

Register for the 2009 CDA National Convention!

Hey College Dems!

If your haven't registered for this year's College Democrats of America Convention from July 23-26th in Washington, DC, you're in luck! The deadline for early registration--only $50-- has been extended through June 15th.

This year's convention will feature the election of the new CDA executive board, several political trainings, speakers from across the Democratic political world, and even a trip to a Nationals' baseball game! Whether you're already interning in Washington or coming from across the country, this year's CDA Convention is a great opportunity to get more involved in Democratic politics and meet some amazing people!

Remember, early registration lasts until June 14th-- so check out collegedems.com right now and click on the right side "CDA Convention 2009" tab to register, check out the agenda, and read the FAQs.

See you there!!

College Dems: Help out on a NYC citywide campaign this summer!

Dear Democrats:

The campaign season this year is heating up, and Democrats in New York need your help. If you're registered to vote in New York City, here's your chance to get involved in competitive races, build up your resume with on-the-ground experience on some of the largest elections in the country this year, and help Democrats get on the ballot in local elections. We are looking for campaign workers who would enjoy being a part of something fun and exciting, and at the same time bring commitment, dedication, and eagerness to political campaigns.
 
As you may already know, this time of the campaign cycle is crucial for candidates in citywide elections. In order to get on the ballot, a candidate must first collect a specific number of petition signatures by a given deadline. We need your help getting signatures. The first two weeks of petitioning are extremely important, and starting Tuesday, June 9th, candidates for every office in the city will begin collecting these signatures.
 
One candidates in particular is looking towards College Democrats in order to help collect petitions: Melinda Katz
 
The Melinda Katz for Comptroller campaign is offering concerned citizens and voters a wonderful opportunity to join and contribute to an elite team of highly talented individuals who are working together to help the candidate become New York City Comptroller.  As Land Use Chair in the New York City Council, Melinda funded 90,000 units of affordable housing, protected more than 7,500 New York City blocks in historic neighborhoods from development, built new schools in all five boroughs of New York City and created tens of thousands of jobs.

Now Melinda is running for New York City Comptroller, where she will use the resources of that office to guarantee Federal stimulus dollars free up credit and create jobs, as opposed to fattening the bonuses of Wall Street executives. For local companies that are profitable but struggling under unsustainable debt racked up in periods of easy credit, she will tap pension funds as a source of capital while restructure their balance sheets in order to return them to viability.

If you want to volunteer or intern on this exciting campaign, please contact the campaign by emailing Josh at jlopez@melindakatzforny.com . Also, if you know anyone who may also be willing to help, please do not hesitate to invite them to be a part of the campaign and give them Josh's contact information.

 

To learn more about Melinda Katz, visit her website at http://melindakatzforny.com

--
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats

If you're in the NYC

Hello All-

 

Happy Summer everyone!

I hope everyone is off to a restful vacation. Firstly, I wanted to thank you for all of your work this past school year. Fordham Dems has really improved and it's all due to you. We have some amazing things planned for next semester including a big speaker of our own.

In the meantime, I wanted to let you know of the volunteer opportunties for those of you in the New York City region. As you know from my various plugs throughout the semesters, I work for Speaker Quinn of the New York City Council. She is currently running for relection in her district (Manhattan 3rd). If you have some free time and would like some campaign experience with some wonderful people, please think about the Quinn 2009 campaign. A couple of us helped out at an event a few weeks ago and they really like Fordham students and are completely flexible with days and times. If you are interested, you can email Nick at nwrolf@gmail.com. Hope to see you there. Have a great summer and please keep in touch!

 

The campaign will be marching in the Queens Pride parade this Sunday, information is below:THIS SUNDAY, JUNE 7^th 

 

PLEASE MARCH WITH

 

NYC COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE C. QUINN

 

AND

 

THE MEMBERS OF THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL

 

AT THE

 

2009 QUEENS PRIDE MARCH 

 

 

Please join Speaker Christine C. Quinn in celebrating Queens Pride 2009!

 

Where: The parade starts at 89^th Street and 37^th Avenue and goes down 37^th Avenue, ending at 75^th Street.

 

When: Sunday, June 7, 2009 @ 11:00 a.m.

 

March begins: 12:00 p.m. sharp

 

RSVP: Visit the following web site to RSVP: http://www.council.nyc.gov/events. Or call Erik Bottcher at (212) 788-5646.

 

Please meet us at 11:00 a.m. at 89^th Street and 37^th Avenue. Erik Bottcher will be reachable on his cell phone at (917) 406-0269.

 

Directions

 

By public transportation, take the #7 subway train to the "74^th Street - Broadway" station. The parade starting point is one block from the subway.

 

By car, the nearest expressway is the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. From either direction, you get off at the "Broadway/Roosevelt Ave" exit ramp. Then drive up Broadway 3 blocks to the intersection of 37^th Road & Broadway to reach the festival. The parade route is one block away from the festival on 37^th Avenue between 75^th and 89^th Streets

--
College Democrats of Fordham University

http://www.fordham.edu/democrats

Personality Attacks

The other day, I came across an acquaintance's Facebook account. I saw the this person was a member of a group for people that cannot stand Bono. I looked at the group's message board and there were no explanations of why they dislike the rockstar. The closest to a reason I ever came across was a dislike of his demeanor. (One person quipped "what is the difference between God and Bono? God does not go around acting like Bono.") I do not believe that that is an adequate reason to hate a person.

Why do I tell this story? I have noticed this same criticism in politics (on both sides of the aisle). Critics of individual politicians typically do not criticize policies (though that happens often enough); instead, they criticize how they play to the crowds. People will say that they act too much like a celebrity, become too emotional, act too professional, act too informal, and so on. However, recall that people act differently in different situations (for example: talking to your best friend versus talking to a supervisor). Not to mention, everybody's personality is different. When people criticize personalities, they are, in fact, making character attacks. Unfortunately, all is fair in love, war, and politics.

College Democrats of America National Convention

Hi Dems,

This summer, the national College Democrats of America Conference is being held in Washington, D.C. from July 23 - 26. New York is a leading contender for State Federation of the Year so we want to get AS MANY New Yorker's down to DC as we possibly can.

If you are interested in attending, you can register at www.collegedems.com. Registration is $50 if you sign up BEFORE MAY 31!! After May 31, registration goes up to $65.

Here is a link to the fb event page for convention --> http://www.facebook.com/events.php?ref=sb#/event.php?eid=77439029024

Hope to see everyone there. Feel free to message me back if you have any questions

Ian
President, CDNY
ian.rivera@collegedemsny.com

Ethnicity on the Courts

Most people have heard Judge Sonia Sonomayor's statement about reading the law as a Latina versus a [white] man. This has been construed to mean that she will legislate from the bench (because of, also, a butchered joke) and is a reverse racist.

It is impossible not to be an impartial judge. I know that that is a radical thing to say, but if you think about it, it is not that absurd. Everyone is different. We all have biases. We all have inclinations. We all see things differently than everyone else based on our intelligence, upbringing, culture, race, religion, experiences, affiliations, and etcetera. So, of course, we will use our individuality in deciding.

Last night, on Anderson Cooper 360, John King asked that if a judicial nominee said that he would read the law in terms of a white man, would the person be confirmed. The politico said that no judicial nominee would have a history of such statements. Before I went to sleep last night, I thought about this topic. If you say "White man," an image of some type of dominance comes to mind. Similarly, if you say "black man," one would think of someone who was once marginalized. There are so many stereotypes that this plays for:

Latino

lazy

blond

dumb

Irish

drinker

Asian

good at math

red-head

angry

southern

racist

north-easterner

conceited

person wearing glasses

smart

I know that this sounds bigoted, but realize that society has somehow (I'm no sociologist, so I don't know how) implanted these thoughts in our heads. Of course, however, most people know that these stereotypes are not true. What I think Judge Sonomayor was meaning by her statement was merely an embrace of her ethnic background. Embracing one's heritage is nothing of which to be ashamed. Tell me, what high school did not have an Asian-American club, an African-American club, an Irish-American club, a Polish-American club (you get the point)?

The Contract of Marriage

Currently, I am watching Larry King. George Takei and his husband are discussing the recent California Supreme Court ruling on Prop 8. They made a good point, though, for over 20 years, they sleep in the same bed and kiss each other good night, it makes the biggest difference in the world on being married. They said that most would not understand the difference between personal commitment and marriage, but I have a good analogy: think of the difference between a pact that is sealed by a hand shake versus one that is done by a legally notarized contract -the later is simply a deeper bond. Though (at least in the State of New York) oral contracts can be legally binding, they are not as significant as a written document. Similarly, making a deal between loved ones verses one with the whole society makes a world of difference.