I get sad...

No, it's not the start of an emo post.  But, I want to tell everyone here a story:

You get married.  You can't have children for whatever reason, so you and your spouse decide to adopt.  Three times over :)  You get to watch your kids grow up, you nurture them, you make sure they get the things you didn't have.  You watch them grow up, and build families of their own.

Your and your spouse grow old together.  Argue over the TV remote.  Get mad and yell at each other, then cry to each other to make up, and promise to never do so again.  You buy a house together, stress over mortgage payments, bills, and all the other stresses of making a house a home.  You both struggle together to make the most out of the life you were given.  And, you do it together.  And you both make it.

Well, after spending 30, 40, or 50 years together, a grunt over morning coffee says the same thing that you used to have to spend 20 minutes talking about says.  A nod, or a look expresses more in moment than a newlywed couple can say in 5 minutes.  You never really need to finish a sentence in order for your spouse to know what you are thinking, and you can read your spouse the same.  You don't need to ask how the day went anymore.  You already know from the look on their face.  And, your spouse can do the same.

A "Friday Night" is now lovingly spent at home, watching TV together, sitting on the couch holding hands.  Or, sitting on the patio, sharing a glass of wine.  Or, taking a walk through the park.

Now, when the inevitable comes, one of you are in the hospital.  On their death bed.  One of you are holding the other's hand; caressing it, encouraging the other to be strong, or to let go.  To not be afraid.

Then, the burial, mourning for days, weeks, months, or years.  But, every minute is worth it, because you spent your life with the person you loved.

Now, let's imagine some hitches along that road.  You lose your job, fall behind on bills, and need to file bankruptcy.  Except, you are getting yanked around because you aren't "Really married".  So, one of you are deemed by the court to be able to handle all of this.  Joint property?  Yeah right.  You lose it all, because you "Weren't really married."

Let's imagine another hitch.  At that death bed, you arrive at the hospital to see your spouse, and the hospital says,"No, you can not see your spouse.  They are in the ICU, and only immediate family is allowed."  What?  You are immediate family.  The hospital says,"No you aren't.  You are not their spouse."

Both of these cases happen daily.  Because we do not recognize two people who love each other as being "Married."  They both love each other, and have lived with each other for years.  Shared each other's pain, their joy, their sadness.  Raised kids, seen them off to college, watched them build their own family.  But, they are not "married."  And, I get sad every time I see it.  At the WNY Pride festival, I saw not less than 50 couples, who are unable to enjoy all the benefits of marriage.

In the words of Mildred Loving, who was arrested for being married to the man she loved:

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

And, to cite the resounding words passed down by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the landmark case of Loving v. Virginia:

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

So, why are we refusing basic civil rights to a group of people here in the United States?  We need to get the ear of our politicians who say they are representing the people!

In NYS, Mark Grisanti could be the turning vote on this issue, come Friday.  Let's get out, and let him know we support basic civil rights for all!  Mark Grisanti's contact information is below:


Buffalo: 716-854-8705
Grand Island: 716-773-9600 ext 654

Email:  grisanti@nysenate.gov
           NF.Grisanti@gmail.com
           Tonawanda.Grisanti@gmail.com
           buffalo.grisanti@gmail.com


Let's blow up every email address, and all his phone numbers!

A voided check made out to NYS for $391 Million

So, how much is Marriage Equality worth to New Yorkers?  According to a recently released report:  $391 million dollars in the first three years after implementation.

So, we would bring in an additional $391 Million dollars into our state, by doing something that would cost nothing:  Legalizing same-sex marriage.

Tourism revenue from becoming a northeastern destination to get married.  Tax revenues from couples moving here to get married, and settle down a family.  Taxes and fees associated with getting married here.

That's money in mine and your pockets, that we are giving up, to placate the minority religious extremist in our area.  To placate old, angry, scared white people.  The same people who most likely fought against inter-racial marriages.

How much is it worth to us to placate an extremely fringe minority?  At last count, New Yorkers supports same-sex marriage by a whopping 58%!!!! (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/gay-marriage-in-new-york-_n_870523.html)  Only 33% opposed it!!!

Now, what I'd like to ask right now:  Mark Grisanti, why have you not voiced your support for legislation a majority of your constituents want?  Why do you oppose what the people who voted you in support?

Let Mark Grisanti know we want marriage equality in NYS!  He claims to support what will help business in our area, well, this will inject much needed capital into our local economy.  Imagine Niagara Falls returning as the marriage capital of the world, because we have same-sex marriage here!

Let your voices be heard, and tell Grisanti what we want:
Buffalo: 716-854-8705
Grand Island: 716-773-9600 ext 654

Email:  grisanti@nysenate.gov
           NF.Grisanti@gmail.com
           Tonawanda.Grisanti@gmail.com
           buffalo.grisanti@gmail.com
              
 Let's blow up his phones, and blow up his inboxes telling him we want marriage equality NOW!

Well, gee Schumer; I know how to fix this one...

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/money/4_your_job/schumer-blasts-u.s.customs-for-rag-tax

A 32% duty on worn clothing that's imported.  And, it's going to "kill a business"...  Really?  How hard is it to locally source your raw materials?  Rags.  That's it.  They need to find a local source for rags.

Schumer:  Why do you hate American production?  Seriously.  I love Canada.  They're our neighbors, and we should treat them as such.  But duties are in place for a reason:  To encourage purchasing INSIDE of our own borders.  Keep local money local.

Let me get this straight?

Kaleida Health, which owns a great many of our local hospitals, is trying to force employees to pay MORE for health insurance(http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/123727/13/Kaleida-Healthcare-Workers-Remain-at-Odds)?

Really?

THEY OWN THE HOSPITALS.

They are YOUR EMPLOYEES.  They make your business work!  They are the ones delivering that health care!  How difficult is it to say,"You know, how about for all Kaleida Employees, you get Package X, which includes all preventative services."

Preventative services are primarily labor costs.  To which they [The employees] are the ones delivering.  Then, for all employees, discount the billed price for all other services by 50%.  Then, let the insurance company pick up the other 50%.

You are a hospital organization, who's goal is supposed to be to deliver health care.  So, why in the flying fuck are you trying to fight it?

Treat your employees like garbage, and you'll end up delivering garbage services.  I worked at a PC repair place a long time ago.  My boss never charged me for bringing in my home computers and fixing them.  I only had to pay at costs for hardware I used.  And that company was a small business.

Come on Kaleida!  Stop acting like a corporate slug, and start acting like what your charter says:

Each of our member facilities has a strong tradition of outstanding service to the WNY community, dating back to as early as the 1800s. Together we are bringing our patients a strong history of dedication to the community and the finest quality medical care -- every day. - http://www.kaleidahealth.org/gen_info/about.asp

Dedication to the community by trying to shift costs of delivering service back onto the service providers?  How is that "dedication to the community"?

You can't fix the schools by cutting funding...

When is Buffalo going to learn?

You can't fix our crappy school system, by cutting funding and attacking teachers!

If you look at the recent release of local top school systems (http://www.wkbw.com/news/business/SCHOOL-RANKINGS-Top-Elementary-schools-123314043.html), what do you see?

The areas with the highest paid teachers have the best school systems.  Buffalo, with the median teacher pay among the lowest, has the worst school system.

This isn't rocket science:  To attract top talent, you need to pay top wages.  If you are paying slave wages and benefits, to a professional who needs a minimum of a master's degree; you get the people who couldn't hack it anywhere else, and are looking to take ANY job they can find.  If you pay top wages, you attract the best god damned talent!  This is Economics 101 here.

And, you'll also see another trend:  Areas with the best school systems attract the best businesses.  Want to know why Tech Companies aren't banging down the doors to move in here?  It isn't because NYS taxes are high.  It's because talented employees DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN A DUMB AREA.

Charter schools, while appearing to be a panacea, are in fact hiding behind the ability to pick and choose who they accept.  The same goes with all privatized school solutions.  They can pick the cream of the crop, and leave the "undesirables" alone.  Private schools don't have to deal with problem students, problem parents, and poor neighborhoods.  They pick who they let in, and where they set up shop.

Fixing our school system should be the top priority.  Not trying to woo companies with exorbitant tax breaks to move here (Which, come 5-10 years, they will threaten to move again unless we cut their tax bill).  Not giving welfare checks to millionaires like Carl Paladino (http://goprealitycheck.com/paladino/171/ny-taxpayer-brigade-carl-where-are-the-jobs-), who gets $1.4 million per year to create ONE JOB.

Fix our school system, and then you'll find people WANTING to move here.  Parents (Who work, and are professionals) look for the best school system to settle down their children.  When we have the best schools, we'll get the best people moving here.  Which in turn leads companies to MOVE HERE in order to get the talent they need to succeed in this competitive business environment.

If we continue to fight against our teachers, and other public workers; we are actually gouging our own eye out in order to hand more money over to people like Carl Paladino...

Lessons learned from ACORN

After ACORN was assaulted by the radical right in this country, and destroyed; there are some lessons to be learned here.

One is that any large organization working on behalf of the people will half inherently less money than a multinational corporation.  All things considered, this makes it a very large target to be hit upon.  Large targets are much easier to hit with legal attacks, and lobbying efforts.

ACORN didn't have the funds to hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers.  They didn't stand a chance against the Koch-funded GOP war chest.  They had barely enough to meet their main missions: neighborhood safety, low costs housing, voter registration, and affordable health care (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now).

So, their inherent weakness was being such a large, undefended target (legally speaking).  All it took was on Breitbart attack, and the GOP was all over that.

So, from this lesson here, our next model of community action must be just the opposite:  Small.  This works well in only one model I've seen:  Guerrilla Warfare.

Now, I'm NOT talking about actually going to war.  War doesn't solve a damned thing, usually.  But, we can take the tactics of guerrilla warfare, and apply them to community action.

Small, decentralized, and infinitely flexible lends itself well to any organization that has minimal funds, yet is a very powerful force when motivated towards a goal.  Even when working towards multiple goals sharing the same foundation principles.

An example of a non-violent, guerrilla group is the internet group known as "Anonymous"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(group))  This group uses anonymity combined with self-organization to accomplish huge goals, to wit they have been very successful with many of them.

Now, Anonymous works in the cyber arena, one arena in which the people have the most power.  This is demonstrated as above where a group of world citizens converge on a single aim, and accomplish it.  Anonymous has also during at least one of their "projects" (Chanology), branched off into what they call "irl", and what we call "In real life" activities.  They organized a world-wide protest of over 9000 people to protest the Church of Scientology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology).

So, we can take lessons from what they've accomplished, and apply them to democratic movements.  The only toolkit required is a place to organize.  Internet forums, Facebook, Twitter, et al.  Anonymity served Anonymous' purposes well, since ideas that came to the surface were voted down or up based on their merits, not on who it was.  This has benefits, since there are no "leaders" of the movement to take down.

So, in a self-organized flash mob of local cells all working towards one goal, there is never a single "head" to take out.  No organization to de-fund.  No organization to sue.  Infiltration of the group would gain nothing, since the group organizes more or less openly on the internet.

This is what the new "era" of community action needs to be:  Small, decentralized, local cells.  Maybe of a neighborhood, or city regional area (ie, Riverside/Black Rock; Elmwood Village/Allentown; Iron Island; et al).  These would be unable to be "attacked" by conservative groups like the Koch Brothers, or Breitbart's little gang of scumbags.

Now, get out there an organize!  Comment here for ideas you may have, or looking for ideas on how to get started organizing these groups!