Play The Sex Card...Play It!!

ROCHESTER - By now, I am sure many of you have seen the NY Chapter of the National Organization of Women's (NOW-NY) response to Senator Kennedy's endorsement of Senator Obama. If not, here it is (from: http://www.nownys.org/pr_2008/pr_012808.html):

Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, and the Family and Medical Leave Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills. We have thanked him for his ardent support of many civil rights bills, BUT women are always waiting in the wings.

And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He’s picked the new guy over us. He’s joined the list of progressive white men who can’t or won’t handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton (they will of course say they support a woman president, just not “this” one). “They” are Howard Dean and Jim Dean (Yup! That’s Howard’s brother) who run DFA (that’s the group and list from the Dean campaign that we women helped start and grow). "They" are Alternet, Progressive Democrats of America, democrats.com, Kucinich lovers and all the other groups that take women's money, say they’ll do feminist and women’s rights issues one of these days, and conveniently forget to mention women and children when they talk about poverty or human needs or America’s future.

This latest move by Kennedy, is so telling about the status of and respect for women’s rights, women’s voices, women’s equality, women’s authority and our ability – indeed, our obligation- to promote and earn and deserve and elect, unabashedly, a President that is the first woman after centuries of men who “know what’s best for us.

Wow. To start off, how did we Kucinich lovers get thrown into this mess? Kucinich has not endorsed anyone. And did those other groups have the misogynistic audacity to suggest that someone other than Senator Clinton could be a fine president? If Kennedy had endorsed Clinton, I doubt the NAACP would have stooped to that level. I guess NOW felt that this was the time to play the 'sex card.'

Kennedy has championed the rights of the underprivileged for 45 years in the Senate. He has been the standard bearer for equal rights, health care, and educational access. Those issues cross all lines, gender, race, religious and otherwise. Ultimate betrayal? I hardly think so. Even Clinton said that endorsements don't decide elections, voters do.

By taking this approach, NOW-NY sends a message that women should vote for Clinton simply because she is a woman. That is exactly the kind of identity politics that causes divisions in our society. There are those out there that will not vote for Clinton because she is a woman. That is wrong. There are those that will vote for Clinton only because she is a woman. That is fine. I refuse to believe that Kennedy, or anyone else, should be vilified for endorsing someone. If Kennedy endorsed a white male, you can make the case for status quo-ism. Endorsing a black man, does not fall into that category one bit. Shame on you, NOW-NY, for being sore losers. You have made yourself look foolish, small and petty. You have cheapened your wonderful platform and made yourself look like any other special interest group. Clinton knows Kennedy is not the end all of the Democratic Party. Clinton knows hard work and voters win elections, not endorsements from elected officials. You should be learning from her wisdom and guidance as an outstanding official and politician, and endorsing her agenda. Not merely endorsing her gender.

Rebate Ain't So Great

ROCHESTER - Like most Americans, I find myself strapped for cash almost constantly. I own a mortgage, uh, I mean house, so that is the big reason, but credit cards, utilities and that pesky food stuff all put a ding in the Benjamins (or the Washingtons in my case). Needless to say, I can use the loot if Bush and Congresss want to give us rebate checks. But does this really do anything? We are facing a recession, will spending $600 fix that? Did shopping defeat the terrorists after 9/11? I think not. I am no economist, but recessions tend not to happen over night. Therefore, they tend not to be fixed over night. Bush wants us to get the money and spend it to give the economy a boost. I think there are three main scenarios here: best case, worst case, and likely case.

Best Case
The best case for Bush is that we all go and spend our 'free' money. I assume he wants us to spend it on goods (as opposed to services) for full effect. Let us assume we get our checks on a Friday and we all spend them on a Saturday. If we all get our checks on the same Friday, retail spikes on one Saturday, and then we all go back to being broke and buying nothing. This only delays the recession. Of course, we will probably get our checks at different times. This will minimize the spike, spreading it out over a matter of weeks or months. Again, this will only delay the inevitable.

Worst Case
The worst case for Bush is that we all save our 'free' money. People saving money instead of spending it is why Reaganomics (trickle down economics) doesn't work. Wealthier people tend to save more, which is why they are wealthier. So if we are all smart and show restraint, we put the money in the bank and collect some interest off it. This does nothing for the economy and it goes directly to recession.

Likely Case
The reality is somewhere in between. The folks who should be saving the money will spend it, and the folks who could be spending it will save it. We will see a small spike in the economy and some of our friends will have some cool new stuff. The recession will be delayed until fall and we will all have buyer's remorse when we can't pay our bills in October.

In summary, telling people to spend a couple of hundred bucks is nothing more than a delay tactic. It is the equivalent of using the defibrillator paddles on a guy that just had a massive heart attack. It may help the short run, but it can't make up for a huge underlying problem. As usual, we Americans prefer to take the short cut and ignore the big picture. My advice? Hell yeah cash the check. Just don't spend it. The recession is coming, sooner or later, and the money might be more useful down the road.

Lazy Media Gives Maggie Another Pass

ROCHESTER - I wish for just one day we could have the 'liberal' media we are always hearing about. I am sick of Republicans getting free passes for everything. They have to go to jail before the media brings it up. The latest example of this hit the fan when Governor Spitzer announced his budget proposal. As we all remember, Maggie Brooks' FAIR Plan TV ads mentioned that her school funding cuts would be made up by 'record state aid.' Not one week later Governor Spitzer warned that the state would not send extra money to fill budget shortfalls. Did the media turn back to Maggie and say, 'do you have assurance that the extra money is coming?' Of course not. She put out her press release first. So she knew, somehow, better than Spitzer what money Spitzer was going to give out.

Thankfully, Spitzer hung the schools out to dry. Not that I don't support public schools, but I was hoping that this would be the final nail in the FAIR Plan coffin. Once the state didn't step in and save the day, I figured Maggie would be exposed as a liar on all fronts. Not so. The lazy (and epically terrible) local media has somehow painted this as Spitzer going back on a promise. Did I miss something?! How can our media be so irresponsible? Maggie Brooks is the new 'Teflon Don,' I guess. Only John Gotti was much more trustworthy than our County Executive. She lied about public input for the FAIR Plan. She lied about schools being able to absorb their cuts. She lied about county taxes going down. She lied about the state giving extra education money. Can we impeach her? Is there a recall provision in our county charter?

(I saw it on Channel 13). Yet somehow this is It does not surprise me that Teflon Maggie lied. She is the compliant lapdog of Karl Rove/Prince of Darkness wanna-be Steve Minarik, who takes great pleasure in lying all the time. What surprises me to the point of being physically ill is that the media lets it go. Spitzer warned Maggie this would happen. On TV. Somehow this is Spitzer's fault when he was the only one that was honest in this whole mess. It is my hope that disgusted citizens demand their media hold public officials accountable for their words and actions. This is no 'he said/she said' scenario. It is all on tape. Maggie lied to our face, and we should be pissed.

COMIDA's Welfare Sucks

ROCHESTER - Despite my usual 'commie, hippy, liberal' rhetoric, let me say this: I love capitalism. I believe capitalism is a perfect partner for freedom. I put out a product or service and my peers judge its value. It is simple and wonderful. My love of capitalism makes me hate the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency. Stalin and Mao would blush at the contempt COMIDA has for the free market.

The goal of COMIDA is worthy. While I do not think government should be giving out taxpayer money to private business at all, I understand that in this new world, there is a decent argument that governments need this tool to compete. On the assumption that COMIDA is necessary, it still is terrible. It is the most corrupt of all government agencies because it literally hands over public money to private people. There is no secret brief cases, no clandestine back alley payoffs. No sir, COMIDA hands out government money in the open. They brag about it! COMIDA is nothing more than a legal way for the current administration to pay out campaign contributors.

Still assuming COMIDA could work effectively, it misses the mark on another (would be) admirable goal. Retaining jobs. Company A comes to Monroe County and says, 'we want to stay, but it would be cheaper to move, and maybe a tax break would be the difference.' No shame for asking, right? But shame on COMIDA's selection process. They recently gave some breaks for Harley School. Is Harley going to move a school? They want to give breaks so Midtown Athletic Club can build clay tennis courts. Is the club going to move if they can't get clay courts? Guess what, if you want clay courts, charge your monocle wearing, caviar eating, Lexus driving members a higher membership fee, use my tax dollars to make sure the public courts are in good repair in public parks. When retaining jobs, please keep up the charade of public benefit by keeping jobs that could reasonably be moved.

The last aim that misses the mark is job creation. Using Enron style accounting, COMIDA can claim to be creating jobs all over the place. But they do so by shifting jobs. Tax breaks to move a law firm from Rochester to Perinton creates 75 jobs in Perinton. There is your press release. Conveniently forgotten is the fact that 75 jobs were in the community before, but now those 75 jobs come with a tax break. So what have we gained? In fact, we lose. With COMIDA, as taxpayers, we always lose.

Folks in the private sector complain about government interference from burdensome regulation to high taxation. 'Government can't operate like a business,' they yell. I agree. So why do we let a government agency give corporate welfare to businesses? If government is so incompetent, shouldn't their approval of a business be the kiss of death? If businesses are not worthy, capitalism weeds them out. That is why I love it. It is the most democratic of all economics because we (the consumers) vote with our patronage. If we allow the government to decide what businesses succeed or fail, are we any different from any communist or fascist country?

Is Kucinich Really Batman?

ROCHESTER - Anyone who talks politics with me knows that I think Dennis Kucinich is the greatest politician since Ted Kennedy. What most people don't know, is that I also believe Batman is pretty cool, too. I have heard that you can get at some one's core by looking at their heroes, so have fun with all that. Of course I need to make sure that for this comparison to work, you must consider Batman a super hero, a separate person from Bruce Wayne. Is Ted Kennedy really Bruce Wayne? Probably, but Kucinich surely is not.

Batman is not really a 'super hero' in the sense that he has no 'super' power. He started with nothing but his body and his drive to make a difference. Instead of being given an advantage, through hard work, he gave himself one. Batman's intelligent detective work is what allows him to fight crime without super strength or mutant powers. This is similar to Kucinich. He grew up in poverty, and through hard work, gave himself an education and a chance. Many politicians start with an advantage, like money, or famous relatives. Those people, like super heroes, are blessed, and they should give back. Superman saved the world? He should because he can. If he was using his powers to win bar bets everyone would hate him. Batman and Kucinich had to work hard just to even the playing field, and they work hard to prove they belong.

Batman often fights long odds, usually related to numbers, but is never intimidated. Sometimes it is necessary to put yourself in harms way to serve the greater good. Whether it is the brawny goons of a mobster or the dangerous scheme of evil genius the Dark Knight does not back down. Kucinich knows this, too, albeit in a political context. He knew standing up to the Chamber of Commerce in their municipal utility fight would likely cost him a re-election. He also knew municipal utilities are in the best interest of the citizens. He lost, but in time, he was proved right.

Although they came from different roads, they ended up at the same place. Batman could easily have lived off of the Wayne fortune and not bothered to make Gotham City any better. Or, he could attend some tuxedo charity event, cut a check and feel smug for 'doing his part.' In a similar vein, Kucinich could have used his rise from poverty to turn his back on those held back. 'I got out of poverty through my own hard work, and so can they,' the former newsroom copy boy, caddy, Barons ticket scalper, hospital worker, etc. from Cleveland could reason. They both decided that to make the biggest difference, you must be involved. You don't need to police an entire city in a costume or even be an elected official to be involved either. Just joining a neighborhood watch (maybe in a costume) or helping pick up trash on your street is enough to get the ball rolling. In the meantime, if you see Kucinich leave an event early or skip out on a debate, look for the Bat signal, it is no coincidence.

East Rochester Recap

ROCHESTER - Now that we know each other a little bit better, I figure I would just dive right in on one of my favorite current events: East Rochester regime change. It is expected that folks losing easy money put up a fight to maintain their golden goose, but this ER stuff is too much. It shows why 'Main Street' Republicans are sometimes as corrupt as 'Wall Street' Republicans.

The first shot in this battle was by outgoing Mayor David Bonacchi himself. If you recall, he collected a Messenger Post jeer for shaming ER residents for voting for challenger Jason Koon. Sour grapes for sure, but after a loss, maybe it was frustration. Or was it the tip of the iceberg? Turns out however, it is more like a sour vineyard. As Koon started to fulfill his campaign promise of cleaning out Town Hall, the Republicans scrambled to keep this gravy train government they had created on the rails. The remaining Republican board members scrambled to put together a Joseph McCarthy style meeting and pack the place with people about to lose their ER welfare checks. Even the news stations were tricked by this little charade. Not the people of ER though. The people in ER are no pushovers, and they didn't vote for change just to see the status quo maintained by their greedy neighbors. So they stood up for change, they stood up for Koon, and they stood up for their beloved 'Home of Champions'.

So what did we learn from all this?
1. ER can make front page news without a train crash.
2. If you weren't born in ER, you are not welcome.
3. ER has some of the highest taxes in the region.
4. The town payroll roster looks like a family tree with few branches.
5. People do not like arrogance from their government.

Things seem to be quieting down over on the East side, but it is still an important issue. This public debate has turned a spotlight on the ugly side of small town politics, a place where you can tax your neighbor to pay your friend. I think it is imperative, as Democrats, that we focus on helping Mayor Koon (and Dem. board member Andrew Serrano) get another ally on the board in the next election. Push back is coming, and the Republicans won't be so complacent, lazy and arrogant next time around. We can show them that their time is past and beat them again, and give East Rochester a chance to finally restore its past glory.

First Post

ROCHESTER - Blogs are now a dime a dozen and usually worth less than a Sabres fan opinion on anything. Not here though, where thought provoking genius will be dispensed generally twice a month. Maybe that is stretching the truth a tad, since my stubborn Irish background lends itself to strong opinions, but through community involvement, I have learned enough to shoot my mouth off. Most people wouldn't bother, but Rochester is worth shooting off for.

My name is Dennis and I am addicted to Rochester. There, I said it. Admittedly, I have only lived in one other place (Dublin), but I have traveled from coast to coast and throughout Europe. I am lucky to have experienced all I have so far because it makes me appreciate our great city. Have you ever been to a wedding and the best man gives a toast that mentions the bride and groom breaking up and getting back together (if you love something, let it free, if it comes back, it is meant to be, right?)? That is the joy of living here after living elsewhere. You can really appreciate what we have.

In that spirit, I have decided to get off on a positive note and just share 'My Rochester' with you. It is nothing more than a list of some of my favorite aspects of Rochester.

Favorite local team: Rochester Amerks
Favorite restaurant: Pomodoro
Favorite bar: Jeremiah's
Favorite Irish bar: Carroll's
Favorite pizza: Chester Cab's Chicago style
Favorite BBQ: Beale St
Favorite charity event: Polar Plunge for Special Olympics NY
Favorite beverage: Genny Light
Favorite random activity: Laser light shows at the Planetarium
Favorite place to people watch: Monroe Avenue between Oxford and Goodman
Favorite touristy activity: Seneca Wine Trail
Favorite park: Cobb's Hill

There you have 'My Rochester'. After this I promise to be a little more informative. As for now, I will bask in the honeymoon period of my new blog before I piss someone off with my liberal ways.