To Boldly Go...

(I made these bookmarks for the Honor America Days Parade in Rome with the theme of Celebrating Our Diversity)
(All rights reserved. Do not copy)
(click on the bookmark to go to Mike Arcuri's site)

(click on the picture to see more Trek Inspiration Posters)

I was looking for something to honor what started 40 years ago today. OK, so the piece directly above doesn't really honor Star Trek, but how often has Captain Kirk yelled out your name, eh??

But I just couldn't find any one thing that covers the whole journey. How do you find one thing that touches all the ways Star Trek has been in my life?

It was Saturday evening TV time...
It was saving my money and buying "grown up books" from the sci-fi shelves instead of the children's collection...
It was empathizing with Spock's dual heritage...
It was how I told time in the pre-remote control days of TV the months I spent in a body cast...

But of all things Trek in my life, what I value the most is the whole concept of IDIC. Trek didn't invent it. But Trek did offer it in a way that deeply resonated in many people. And that's where the top most piece came from.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek.
Maimun

Chickens Voting for Colonel Saunders

I just read an entry at DownWithTyranny that flashed me back to a nightmare from 2000.

By 2000, I'd been active in local politics for several years. And I was also learning that though I might only wear one hat at a time, all the hats are a part of me and none get left behind as I go through my day. Thus, while working on campaign and listening to potential candidates, I listened with ears of women, Muslims, workers, counselors, people caring about kids and the elderly, and all the other lenses with which I see Life.

So, that Sunday before Election Day in 2000, when I opened my email and received SEVERAL copies of a American Muslim group's endorsement of Bush, I got a bit crazy.

CHICKENS VOTING FOR COLONEL SAUNDERS

As much as I'm not over the theft of the Election, I'm still angry at some group took it upon themself to claim my opinion. Well, that is also what Bin Forgotten and Bush are doing too, but there's an assumption that national groups are not psychotic megalomaniacs.

DownWithTyranny says:

I've always been able to look at Bush's narrow, hateful face and see the bigotry right down to the core of his dark, dark soul.

I've seen bigotry look me straight in the eye. I've heard it as I overheard conversations. I've read it on paper that was put in my hands and on walls as I've driven or walked by.

So have you. If you think you haven't... open your eyes and start listening.

September 16, 2001:
Bush made the same point during his remarks at the White House. "This crusade, this war on terrorism is gonna take awhile. And the American people must be patient. I'm gonna be patient," Bush said.

September 2, 2006:
"You know what I'm gonna tell those Jews when I get to Israel, don't you Herman?" a then Governor George W. Bush allegedly asked a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman.

When the journalist, Ken Herman, replied that he did not know, Bush reportedly delivered the punch line: "I'm telling 'em they're all going to hell."

August 22, 2006:
Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, whose re-election campaign is pressing for tighter immigration controls, referred to his house painter as "a nice little Guatemalan man" and suggested that worker as well as employees of a roofing company he hired might be in the country illegally.

August 14, 2006:
Earlier this month, George Allen, a Republican senator from Virginia, twice referred to an opponent's volunteer using a term for a monkey, considered by some to be a racial slur. "Let's give a welcome to Macaca here," Allen said. "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia."

There is a part of me that cringes at being so angry at the Colonel Saunder supporting chickens. People do have the right to be masochists and make their own lives miserable.

But they don't have the right to sell off others or their children. Or worse yet, raise their children to buy into the proverbial butcher.

Some of those Muslims who sent me their endorsements of Bush now regret doing so. Not only did they get a scathing reply from me, but I'm also considerably less likely to engage them in politics anymore. Some realized how ignorant they were. But more often, the biggest regret is that Bush sits in the White House.

In January, Mike Arcuri attended the community dinner held by my mosque. He was the first political guest in my memory who stayed for the entire dinner. And he not only stayed, but he also conversed with countless other diners and sat at a table of congregation members instead of a head table.

He GETS not just the importance of diversity but the celebration of it.

Maimun

"One of the Keys in Controlling Congress"

Click on the picture above to hear North County Public Radio's coverage of the
Mike Arcuri-Ray Meyer veterans forum in Utica last month.

Even Ray says that this race is a tie (as of Aug 16th at least). And if the Republican says that the Democrat is neck-to-neck with him this early, Mike's ahead.

He also says that "we" need to apply more pressure on the Iraqi civilian governtment to get its own armed forces up and going. Well, given that we're occupying them right now, the only more pressure wuld be along the lines of how "we're" treating people in Gitmo. Gee... maybe we can put Saddam Hossain in power and he's watch out for our interests.

Oh yea.

Been there and done that.
Maimun

Baseball, Politics and strange intersections

Click on the TV image to see Mike Arcuri's ad.

It's been a busy week. (and yes, it's only Wednesday!!) Campus is bustling again with life now that the students are back. It's inspiring to look out over the quad and see students, walking, running, relaxing, hacky-sacking, etc all with books going to or from classes. Welcome back!

I had a strange realization on the campaign side of life. Way back when, I managed to collect an entire set of Star Wars trading cards. I think back then, you paid a quarter and got a 10 or so cards and a stick of really hard, tooth-breaking pink bubble gum. At least I think I paid a quarter. I do remember that it took me a while to build the set and while the complete set was a few inches deep, all my combined duplicate cards were several time the depth of the set. But the fun was in the process... the buying, the sorting, the filtering, the trading. Several years ago, I was on vacation and came across a trading card show. Alongside all the sports cards were the newer gaming cards. And there was a vendor who was setting completed sets of Star Trek cards. The ease of filling out and handing over a check for buying the set was a sharp contrast with working and building my Star Wars set. It was rather disappointing even though I much prefer Trek to Wars.

I feel a little the same way over Mike Arcuri's trading cards. Oh, no doubt I'll be working hard with them... but to give them away rather than collect them. I've already seen the whole set and I'll have one before they're all gone. But the searching, sorting, trading won't be a part of things for me. I'm excited about these new campaign pieces. Most campaigns think of some off-the-beaten-path fun ideas, but often they get pushed aside or lost among the traditional bumper stickers and lawn signs.

My first hint of things to come was Dick, a mentor, recommending that I ask Mike about the baseball cards. If I didn't respect and trust both of these men, I probably wouldn't have bothered to ask. It just sounded too much like a set up for me to be the punchline of a joke. But, I did ask, though with memories of dad taking the family to a baseball game when I was a child and that I couldn't see cute Bucky Dent well enough and that I spent the game reading a Hardy Boys book over shadowed the question.

Once I got through the idea of baseball and into political trading cards, I was looking forward to them. That I took one of the pictures is especially fun.

And they are fun enough that I'm moving making some time to work on Artistic Trading Cards closer to my "Do" list. It might not get started until after Election Day, but at least I know what my first art project will be!

It's been a strange week of intersections. An old friend of friends who found this blog online celebrated her anniversary and in the weird small-town-ness of Utica, she'd married someone I had gone to gradeschool with. I crashed a fundraiser for another fellow I went to junior high with, Chris Giruzzi who is running for Town Justice in Frankfort. And a dear friend's daughter, a young woman who just registered Democrat, who I've known since she was born, started college.

It's been a week of echoes from long ago coming back to play new songs.
Maimun

Somewhere, a country radio programmer's head is exploding

The author of the title to this post is Southern Beale.

Southern and I crossed paths after I found the Music Row Democrats. I've started a diary over there under the name "centralnychick"

True Confession time... I listen to country music. Yup...tears-in-my-beer,-dog-left-me,-but-I'm-still-making-my-way-though-life Country Music.

Now, I still listen to Sinatra and have every Bowie song too, but the radio's pretty much set to the local Big Frog station.

There's an emotional aspect of country music at appeals to me. I like tales of life and I hear that in country more than other forms.

But the Publicans have poisoned that well too. A woman I know made a beautiful commemoration of 9.11 and she used the song Where Were You? by Alan Jackson. That song still moves me to tears more often then not. Alan knew that on that day when the world stopped turning, we were all American and he sang the words that were in our hearts and was part of the starting healing.

But answering Shrub's call for a crusade, Toby Keith went on a musical rampage of carpet bombing, inserting 'boots into asses' and dogs fighting. His Lady Liberty doesn't welcome the poor huddled masses. No, she shoves a fist at them.

Any we wondered why America lost the sympathy of the world? Why did Gitmo surprise us?

And I still listened to country music, though I did find myself turning the dial when Keith's song came on. The song scared me. It condoned the violence and hatred that Bill Clinton urged us to avoid on 9.11 and it supported the fanatics and terrorists in my own country.

Then the Dixie Chicks expressed their opinion. Female country singers have always displayed strength and fortitude that I admired. There's a strength and life-affirming attitude that appeals to me and I get a recharge every time I turn the radio on.

Now, gosh-darn-it.. how dare a woman speak her mind!? Who does she think she is... someone with a brain!?

So, for daring to express her opinion, Natalie Maines got dropped by radio stations, threatened with physical harm and called all kinds of names that no southern gentleman would ever use.

And she kept on singing. She's Not Ready to Make Nice and neither am I.

Music, movies, news for Democrats and a polite, warm welcome... doesn't get much better than that.

Oh, the title of this post came from a reply to my profile there:
Central NY, Democrat, South Asian heritage, work at a college, muslim, and I listen to Country music.
Maimun

Red herring goes well with whine

There are times I've had people mandated to see me because they broke the rules. Sometimes, it's meaningful and those people are able to make needed changes in their lives or at least learn skills or better ways of thinking.

But, for the most part, when they come in with 1,001 excuses of why they really didn't do wrong or a list of a hundred of other people who did the same thing and weren't punished, I pretty much expect and usually see that person head right back to judiciary to get the results of not doing what they should.

When someone doesn't have the proof that he or she is right, all they can do is whine about how wrong everything else is.

Fundamentacons (that's my new word for the Fundamental Republicans that are to America what Osama Bin Forgotten is to Muslims) need to stop being spoiled 4 year olds. You broke the proverbial Grandma's vase by running through the living room and screaming about how Johnny down the road supposedly did something does not relieve you of the responsibility of making amends for destroying the vase.

People who break the law then do their time, and make amends are entitled to most of their rights. (Obviously, see Election 2000, this rule does not apply in Florida or to African American males in the south. Also to those who might have the same name of someone who broke the law.)

Friends, family and co-workers who like each other actually do things to show that positive regard.

That Mike Arcuri's campaign took a donation from a felon is no different from the thousands of other donations that were made that day to all the campaigns in the country. That he returned them upon an FBI investigation being made public was as right as all the other times he has acted fairly, honorably, and ethically. And to help all those wanna-be-lawyers who think they got their degree by watching too many hours of Law and Order, Mike is the Oneida County DA. The FBI is a different law enforcement agency.

People who worked in the DA's office carried petitions to get Mike's name on the ballot. So did an awful lot of other people too, but the Fundamentacons are having a fit over those particular carriers. And of course, the Observer-Dispatch is all over that too. (picture the Grinch rubbing his hands with glee after he got all the stolen Christmas memorabilia into his cave.)

And like all Fundamentalists, the Fundamentacons read every other line and think they heard the voice of God. Here's the Ethics Opinion. Now, that's the second time in one week I've had to sit and read a document written by lawyers and I'm no lawyer. But, this is the Conclusion of Opinion 683:

CONCLUSION
For the reasons given, we adhere to the opinion expressed in New York State 675 (1995), that it is improper for an Assistant District Attorney to participate actively in the incumbent District Attorney's reelection campaign.

That's dinner for tonight... 2 red herrings, caught, filleted and grilled for your enjoyment.
Maimun

Vote for Mike before Wednesday

If you've ever wished that a national Democratic group would support the kind of candidate you support, now is your chance. The DCCC is asking for your vote to help determine which candidate they will assist. If you support Mike Arcuri, vote now (at least before Wed the 23th) so the DCCC will help too by clicking here.

Early this year, the DCCC called asking me to donate to them. I told them that I wouldn't give them any more funding until they started supporting Democrats of the kind I like. Well, not only will I have to send some $ their way (but only after I've donated directly to the campaign) but these calls for votes gives each of us a chance to get the national group to realize who Democrats support.

Beside, if you don't vote in this, you give up your right to whine about how the national groups work.
Maimun

Terrorists and Drug Dealers

I missed the Veterans Forum held at SUNY IT last night. A few Mike Arcuri volunteers and I spent the evening at the last night of Jazz Fest in Utica. As much as watching political debate and dialogue is a very fun way to spend an evening, I couldn't complain about spending an evening with fellow Democrats, listening to great music (if you ever get a chance to listen to Blue Streak with Al Nathan, don't miss it!), eating great Japanese food the Geisha, and be outdoors on a beautiful warm night.

But, Utica Insider (not to be confused with other insiders) did get to the debate and posted his/her comments here. From the description there, it sounds like a replay of the first debate.

I wrote earlier about Terror Plot: England, and today, District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor agreed with many of us that Shrub's Invation of Privacy Program is indeed unconstitutional.

Only someone with criminal activity in mind opposes law enforcement's tool of surveillance and wiretapping. Like any other tool, it can be used to create or to destroy. Used well, criminals get put away. Used poorly, it gets those criminals back out on the streets among us. That's why there's a judge in the process.

As a Counselor, I was required to tell clients that though what they told me was for the most part protected and confidential, there were times that I could break confidentiality. When someone was at risk of being hurt, I could tell. The other instance I had to tell (usually) was when someone handed me a subpoena. But I'd offer and have the reassurance that I would be ordered to talk publicly about private issues only after a judge reviewed the need for breaching privacy.

That was the safe use of a tool. There was a level of protection that ensured as best as it could that the tool was being used correctly. Oversight. Checks and Balances. Radical notions, but as American as the Constitution.

Ray Meier, at the first debate, said that there was a difference between drug pushers and terrorists. Hey, it's your team, Ray, that's calling it a War on Terror... not War on Only Some Levels of Terror That Changes Depending on What We Want to Scare People With Today.

Yes, there is a difference. But England stopped the potential threat with many of the same tools that the Drug Raid in Oneida County stopped the drugs and pushers. And the good guys stayed on the Good Side.

We can't fight our fears by becoming them. We can't fight evil be becoming evil.
Maimun

Laugh, Whine and the Real Deal

Wow, Shrub finally achieves something in his own right.
(With credit to Howie Klein at DownWithTyranny!)

Anyway... tonight, I'm sending you over to YouGOMike where there's a powerful piece on why Ray Meier can't and will not talk about the problems facing us and instead chooses the Whine Train through the district (in the old gas-guzzler).

Vote for Michael Arcuri.
Maimun

Arcuri-Meier Forum is now online!!

Hello, everyone. The Arcuri-Meier Candidate forum of July 25th at SUNY Oneonta is now online. Thanks to SUNY Oneonta Political Science Department for making this available to everyone!

http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/polsci/Debate/Candidate1-REF.mov

My thoughts on the debate were posted previously here and here, but your thoughts would be a wonderful addition now. Well, at least some of them.

Maimun