Entries Tagged 'Politics' ↓

I did not watch the entire convention, but I caught Giuliani’s speech, Palin’s acceptance speech (which was a regurgitation of her introduction speech), and McCain’s acceptance speech tonight. I’m glad it is finally over.

Did you notice that McCain was repeating many of the ideas Obama stated? What is it, don’t the republican’s have any original ideas of there own?

I’ll tell you though, McCain’s description of his torture while a POW was very moving. It made my eyes water. BUT, does being a POW qualify one to be the President?

Now that the circus show is over, the candidates will finally be able to debate side by side and state their case to the American people. The Presidential candidates will have three debates, and the Vice Presidential candidates will have one. These debates should prove to be very interesting though I’m not sure how many new voters each candidate will draw since, I believe, most voters have already decided who they are going to vote for.

The political pendulum swings both ways; extreme right, as we’ve witnessed the last eight years, and extreme left. If history repeats, it is now the Democrats turn since they are more left leaning. I hope so, I cant stand another four more years of the since.

Once it became clear that Senator Barrack Obama was going to be the likely Democratic Party nominee, the Republican’s resorted to what they do best — negative campaign tactics.

Rather than state what his agenda is for the American people, John McCain spent his time, effort and money depicting Obama as a rock star on the same level as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. His underlying theme being, “… but is he ready to lead?”

Taking the high road, Senator Obama never once fired back despite many in his ranks and within the Party imploring him to come back hard. Instead, Senator Obama continued talking about his plans and how he will change America.  It was not until he made his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention that he took a few hard jabs at Senator McCain. That, my friends is the appropriate place to take jabs at the opponent.

No sooner had the convention ended when McCain, trying to steal the thunder from out of Obama’s elogant speech, announced that his running mate was Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. While it shook up the Republican Party establishment, and surprised even seasoned political journalist what followed would prove to be even more reveiling. Two days after the Sarah Palin announcement it became known that her eldest daughter, a mere 17 years old, had gotten pregnant out of wedlock and decided to keep the baby. It is wonderful that they have decided to keep the baby - but lets not forget the issue here. “Family Values.” Why is the 17 year old daughter of an obviously conservative  Govenor having unprotected sex? Could it be that as a republican govenor she believes in teaching abstinence rather than safe sex practises? Why is the daughter keeping the child?  Could it be that the Govenor threatened her with something like “you are having this child wheather you want to or not. Just because of your stupidity I am not going to lose my political carrer”. Never mind that at 17 she is still an adolescent and will be forfeiting her life. When all of her freinds are out dating, going to parties and/or the movies, she will be stuck at home changing diapers and breast feeding.

Come on people, you know that if it were the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate that had an out lock wedlock pregnant 17 year old daughter the Republicans would be all over that decrying “Family Values” and or parental supervision. After all, they are the masters of mud slinging. Instead, Senator Barrack Obama has elected to take The High Road. Now that is Classy, that is Characther.

Teenagers are going to engage in sex. Wouldnt it be more prudent to teach safe sex and hand out condoms than to reli soley on the preaching of abstinence? Obviously the abstinence message alone is not helping. So do we what another 8 years of the same old policies or 4 years of a new direction for the 21 century?

VOTE OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

Quotable Quotes:

“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.”
John Caldwell Holt (April 14, 1923 - September 14, 1985)
American author and educator

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the [American] civil rights movement

In an effort to steal the thunder and capitalize on the Democrat’s momentum, the presumptive Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain selected Republican Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. The effect seemed to have worked for a little while since it was a well guarded secret until the very last minute.

In her introduction speech Palin attempted to use the Democrat’s successes against them by giving shout outs to both Geraldine Farraro and Hillary Clinton. Well then, since she brought it up let us compare accomplishments & philosophies:

Sarah Palin
is pro-life and a prominent member of Feminists for Life
…creationism does not need to be part of the curriculum
opposes same-sex marriage
supported a non-binding referendum for a constitutional amendment to deny state health benefits to homosexual couples.
admits that she used marijuana, does not support legalizing it
Palin is a life member of the National Rifle Association, and is popular among gun rights activists
Geraldine Ferraro
a Democratic politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives
served as a United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1994
is a board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women
she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of cancer where plasma cells secrete abnormal antibodies known as Bence-Jones proteins, and has become an avid supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, has beaten the disease’s Stage 1 survival mean of 62 months by a factor of 2
in Congress she served on the Public Works Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Post Office Committee. She also served a term as the Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus, the first woman in that position. She was the Chairwoman of the Platform Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
This is just a small sampling of Hillary’s accomplishments:
junior United States Senator from New York
was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001
twice listed as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America
was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992 and was active in a number of organizations concerned with child welfare, as well as sitting on the boards of Wal-Mart and several other corporations
played a role in advocating for the establishment of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and the Foster Care Independence Act
the first American First Lady to run for public office, and is the first female senator to represent New York
she was reelected by a wide margin in 2006.
working pro bono in child advocacy
her interest in children’s law and family policy, publishing the scholarly articles “Children’s Policies: Abandonment and Neglect” in 1977 and “Children’s Rights: A Legal Perspective” in 1979.
 Historian Garry Wills would later describe her as “one of the more important scholar-activists of the last two decades”
As chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee she successfully secured federal funds to expand medical facilities in Arkansas’s poorest areas without affecting doctors’ fees
Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States, and announced that she would be using that form of her name. She was the first First Lady to hold a post-graduate degree and to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House. She was also the first to take up an office in the West Wing of the White House: the First Lady usually stays in the East Wing. She is regarded as the most openly empowered presidential wife in American history, save for Eleanor Roosevelt
In the 2008 presidential nomination race, Clinton won more primaries and delegates than any other female candidate in American history.

If I were to list Senator Joe Bidden’s accomplishments againgst hers, she would not measuure up. So, I think the Republican thunder turned out to be just a little pop!

The Real John McCain

John McCain: The Manchurian Candidate connection:

McCain was subjected to 5 ½ years of Soviet driven “brain perversion techniques.” Is he fit to be President and Commander in Chief of the military?

John McCain’s suicide attempt and his resulting PTSD

Betrayal, deceit, corruption and John McCain

I have not verifyed the statements made on the above website, but the information makes for some good reading.

Taking Back The [White] House!

Presidential Candiadate Barack Obama chose Joe Bidden as his running mate ending weeks of speculation. Senator Bidden, the out spoken chairman of Foriegn Policy, is said to balence the ticket. Imediately after the announcement was made, the McCain camp released an ad depicting Joe Bidden attacking Obama during the (Democrat) Primaries. There is a trend here if anyone cares to look. That is that McCain spends time and advertising dollars attacking Obama rather than discussing his plans and ploicies for the future. The reason is simple, he is old as are his ideas, and he has no real plan for America’s future. A vote for McCain is a vote for more of the same. It would be like giving George W. Bush another 4 years. Do we really want that? Can we really afford that?

If it’s not broken don’t fix it.
But if it is broken send for the marines. Are we better off today than eight years ago? Hell no. When the Democrats (Bill Clinton) left the White House they left the country with a trillion dollar surplus, and we were respected around the world. Unemployment was low and the housing market was bustling. Those were the “good ole days”. Eight years later after a Republican President is about to leave office and America is broken. The housing market is at it’s worst in over 30 years. There are more people losing thier home to forclosure than at any other time in history. The economy is in shambles, the respect of the USA around the world is doubtful at best, and the war continues to cost lives and money.

While initially supporting the war, like many others did because of the hoax perpetrated on us all regarding weapons of mass destruction, Senator Joe Bidden has been one of the most vociferal opponents of President George W. Bush and his war policy. Senator Joe Bidden, is well respected throughout the world, is an articulate advocate for American democracy. In Joe Bidden, Barack Obama has selected a great man to balence the ticket, and someone we can feel safe with in the event that Obama is no longer president, for whatever the reason.

Why is it that Republicans always resort to mud slinging whenever they feel there victory slipping away?
On more than one occasion Senator John McCain has stated that he wants to keep his campaign above the dirt, that the American people are tried of that type of politics. So what does McCain do? He attacks Senator Barrack Obama for being to famous. He actually infers that Obama is on the same level as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. The saddest part about it is that once he was busted he tried to make light of it by saying that it was in fun, that his campaign staff was getting a kick out of it. Well Senator McCain, it appears that only you and your campaign staff see the humor value in that ad.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, then he accused Mr. Obama of playing the race card. Come on man, give me a break. All Senator Obama was doing was telling his constituency about all the dirty antics that McCain and his cronies are going to use. “They are going to say I have a funny name, that I don’t look like any of the Presidents on any of the dollar bills we have…” How, pray tell, is that playing the race card? Doesn’t John McCain play the POW card? Thats the Prisoner Of War card for those that don’t know. Look it’s heroic for any American to go off and fight in war to defend this country. And its a testament to his inner strength that he survived several years as a POW. But, as General Clark truthfully stated, being a surviving POW does not automatically qualify one to be President of these United States nor to be its Commander in chief.

For such a tough guy, McCain seems to be running home to mommy crying that the bigger boys are picking on him. The fact of the matter is that there are great communicators that become President, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Ronald Regan, and hopefully Barrack Obama. John McCain puts people to sleep. He is old, out of touch and speaks in a monotone. This is the YouTube, Ipod generation. If you dont understand that technology or how to use it to your advantage you will lose. Senator McCain, you lose.

Last night was a historical night here in the USA. Senator Barrack Obama became the first African American in the history of the United States to get the nomination of any major political party for a chance to run for President!

In what should have been his night to shine, Senator Clinton, [D-NYS] announced that she was not ready to stop campaigning. She reiterated that the 18+ million people that voted for her must be heard and, said she, while there were many decisions to be made, she [Clinton] ‘will make no decision tonight’.

I was under the impression that the Democratic Party had a winner take all policy. Obama reached the so-called magic number of 2118 and some, yet Clinton refuses to acknowledge him as the nominee. As recent as Monday on the Today Show, Clinton’s campaign strategist, Terry McAuliffe, told Matt Lauer that when Obama reaches the magic number of 2118 she, meaning Clinton, would be the first to congratulate him and begin to unite the Democratic Party.

Now, as I write this, I am listening to Terry McAuliffe on the MSNBC’s Morning Joe, it seems like Hillary is ready to concede. Let just say this, before Obama jumped into the race I was all about Hillary R. Clinton for President. But, once Senator Obama announced his desire to run the game plan changed. But make no mistakes, this primary contest will go down in the annuls of American History as one of historical proportions. The First African American and the First Women to be serious contenders for the nomination. I knew that whatever the outcome it was history in the making. I knew it would be Hillary or Obama. With that said, let me predict that there will be no dream team ticket of Obama & Clinton. I say Obama and Edwards, but who knows. As the old saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows. What comes to mind is John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Those two hated each other, Johnson always felt that Kennedy didn’t pay his dues and stole the nomination from him but for the sake of party unity they formed a ticket. One of my main concerns is how ready the Secret Service are to protect Obama. We all know that there are some crazies out there that just can not accept the fact that a Black Man may actually be the President of the United States. That can not accept the fact that there really is a new America and that in my life time (I am 54 years old), Whites will for once be the minority. In the real world, that should have no baring. But many whites (those crazies, you know who I mean) feel guilty for the sins of their fathers, and feel that if “Blacks get into power” the tables will be reversed. Rest assured crazies that will not happen. We, so-called minorities, love this country as much as you do. We, so-called minorities, have shed blood for this flag in every major battle dating back to the Civil War. We have always felt American even when you (crazies) denied us that right. So, 2008 - Century 21 if you will, and everything has come full circle. The best person has risen to the occasion and it just so happens that he is a mixed race individual. But, that person- Mr. Senator Barrack Obama will be the Commander in Chief, will uphold the U.S. Constitution and life will go on.

Now comes the next phase of this historic quest. Mr. Obama must revise his game plan from one of seeking the nomination, to that of running for President. This means selecting a running mate that together can beat the Republican machine because we know it will be geared up full force against Obama, and one that meshes or blends in with his ideals and goals for this country. That also means identifying someone that will uphold his legacy in the aweful event that he is assasinated.

So while Hillary was not going to make a desion last night, Obama to will not be making a desion yet. For that, Hillary and all the pundits will have to wait.

Hilary Clinton has won big in Puerto Rico or so some of the pundits say. However if you do the math she still trails behind Senator Obama. The question on many peoples mind’s today is whether she will bow out gracefully or continue on and risk being labeled a spoiler?

Personaly, I think she will concide and will congratulate Senator Obama is a big press confrence tonight in New York city. Many do not think that Hilary will concide and will try to pursuade the Superdelegates that she has in fact won the popular vote and can beat Senator McCaine in the general election.

What do you think?  [poll id="4"]

Sunday June 25, 2008

Today is Memorial Day, a day for us as a nation to honor the memory of those American servicemen and women that make the ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us could live in freedom. For me, I’m sorry to confess, memorial day was just another day. A day that I’d get off from work. A day that I’d go hang out in Orchard Beach when I lived in New York City. A day that was viewed by me as anything other than what it was meant to honor.

It wasn’t until after September 11, 2001 that this day had some meaning to me. For my ignorance I’d sincerely like to apologize to all the men and women, living and passed on, that volunteered to meet the enemy of freedom face to face so that we could live in relative peace. Thank you soldiers, Thank you Vets. Thank you for your bravery.

Without taking anything away from our Vets on this, their day, I would however, like to take a moment to remember my friend Manny Maldonado whom died as a result of another kind of war — the war on drugs.

Please note that it is not my intent to offend any veteran or their family, nor is it my intention to equate the status of drug addicts, active or recovering, to the same level as our military casualties. I simply would like to remember the casualties of the war on drugs. You see, it was President Richard M. Nixon that elevated drug addiction to that status not me. It was Nixon when he declared a war on drugs and recruited the most famous Rock and Roll star of his day, Elvis Presley, as a special federal agent. His war on drugs was destined to be lost from the very beginning because everyone knew that Elvis was a big, fat drug addict himself!

Even more ironic is the parallels between the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the War on Drugs. All three were initiated by Republican Presidents and all three are being lost.

I was born in 1954, was an adolescent during the 1960’s and came of age in the 1970’s. Those three decades marked the dawning of a new America. It was during those decades, especially the ’60’s and 70’s that drugs first came out of the closet.

While we as a nation were fighting in Vietnam, many of our troops were coming back with tremendous heroin addictions. If you are a movie buff you would have learned about Frank Lucas, the “American Gangster” as portrayed by Denzel Washington, and you may also remember Popeye Dole of the French Connection. Those were both large drug importing situations.

As a casualty of the war on drugs myself, and a social worker, I studied the history of drugs in America intensely. And while it is true that the drug situation came to light during the late 1960’s and 70’s, it is also true that there has been a drug problem in America dating back to the Civil war. Yes it’s true this country has a long history of drug abuse, and addiction, and it is also true that alcohol is a drug.

During the 1960’s and early 1970’s this country went through what many consider a second civil war. Woman were burning their bras, college students were taking over their campuses, blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Gays were demanding civil their rights. Mexican American’s were boycotting because of the horrendous

working condition of the [Mexican] farm workers, especially the grape pickers.

In the Attica New York State Prison, the prisoners rioted and took over the facility. The Government must have felt like it was losing control because in one atrocious act after another citizens were being killed. In the south three young civil rights workers

were murdered, two happened to be Black and the third was white. In Kent State Universtiy near Akron Ohio, The Kent State shootings, or the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre as they came to be known took place. Students were brutality murdered when the State Troopers opened fire on unarmed college protesters.

Needless to say, the civil unrest came to an end, and eventually so did the war in Vietnam, and then life continued. The so-called war on drugs, however, did not end. In fact it had just begun. During the Presidency of Ronald Regan the drug war was escalated. Suddenly there was a new weapon in this unending war on drugs. The new weapon, some say, came out of the Governments arsenal in the form of a vicious illness that at first was killing Blacks, then it was noticed was killing Gays, prompting the religious right to exult that God was punishing the immoral. Yes, that weapon today is called the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or HIV and AIDS respectively.

A man has landed on the moon. Space probes now reach into the outer depths of the universe - in fact one such probe landed on Mars just yesterday, yet there is no cure in sight for HIV/AIDS. Perhaps it is because many people still think of it as a disease that only affects Gays, Drug Addicts and the promiscuous. Which as everyone knows translates into black and brown people.

I struggled with my own heroin addiction for two decades. I did not plan to be an addict nor was it my ambition. I never thought, when I grow up I want to be a drug addict. It just happened. Like I said I grew up during the troublesome 1970’s when drug use was so prevalent that it almost seemed permissible. I am not excusing my past behavior, I am simply saying how it was. And let me tell you it was bad! Help was practically non exsistant. Even the government did not know what to do about the epidemic. For those not alive during that era, heroin addiction was the “crack epidemic” of that time.
Frank Sinatra starred in a movie called the Man with the Golden Arm, and Al Pacino starred in Panic in needle park.

The war on drugs was in full force. By the 1980’s the attitude of society toward drugs had changed. It came to be exemplified by the president’s wife, Nancy Reagan’s “Just say no” campaign.

It wasn’t till much later, like the 1990’s, that the medical professional began to realize that addiction is a medical condition.

Meet Manny
Manny was raised in Brooklyn, NY. Being about my age, he also grew up during those crazy, tumultuous days of the 60’s and 70’s. And just like everyone that drinks alcohol does not become an alcoholic, everyone that experimented with heroin did not become addicts. Unfortunately both Manny and myself did.

Manny tried to do the right thing. He graduated high school, attended collage, held down jobs. But since drug addiction is a progressive disease, it simply continued to get worst as time went by. Like many addicts, seeking help was very difficult and when help was provided it was usually the wrong mode. One of the terrible things about addiction is that once it gets a hold of you it does not want to let go. And before you could realize you are doing things that in a normal state of mind you would even consider. Yes, drugs makes you compromise your morals and values. That is one of the reasons why recovery is so difficult, the shame of the things that one must do in order to get a “fix” can become unbearable. Like many addicts, hospital and treatment centers become a revolving door. Unconsciously for many, hospital and treatment centers and jail become sort of like a respite facility, a pit stop if you will. Or as they say in the twelve step fellowships you are in between highs. Eventually if jails, institutions or death does not claim you, you become sick and tired of being sick and tired and you actually do want to get help. The help is a little more readily available but the mode and method is still wrong. Lucky for many addicts, the Twelve Step Program as brought forth by Bill Wilson of Alcoholics Anonymous fame reached them in the form of Narcotics Anonymous. Manny was one of those. And just as hard as Manny drugged, that is the same voracious appetite he brought with him to NA.

When I met Manny I was a patient in Gracie Square Hospital. Yes, despite my being a drug addict I was able to hold down a job. I like to think that my own recovery process began while in jail in 1977. There was a certain individual in jail with me (jail being Riker’s Island in New York City) that was the Executive Director of a certain drug program (due to confidentiality I will not name him or the program he was associated with). He got caught up in a sting operation and ended up on Riker’s Island with an embezzlement charge. He told me that he was going to get out in a day or two- that the Governor of a State was going to vouch for him. Apparently his wife was a high level official in this governor’s administration. Sure enough he was released a few days later. But while he was in there with me, we struck up a friendship and in talking he shared with me some concepts about alcohol and drugs.

After he was gone a couple of hours and his cell became in demand, I was asked to pack up and clean out his cell by the corrections officer on duty. While cleaning out his cell I came across a book entitled “I’ll quit Tomorrow” by Vern Johnson. The book was about alcoholism and the treatment methods for it. I stuck that book into my waist and packed and cleaned up the cell. That afternoon while in my cell I began to read this book. It was as if the book were written about me. It talked about black outs, a concept I had never heard before and about the cycle of alcoholism. It was there in that jail cell that I had a rude awakening. You see, for me it had started with alcohol, and unbeknownst to me I was an alcoholic.

I was actually sentenced to two and two thirds to seven years to New York State Department of Corrections. Dr. Vern Johnson gave me insight and I was relieved. His book taught me that I was not a bad person trying to get good, but I was a sick person that needed medical intervention. While incarcerated I managed to get a high school equivalency diploma and to attend a few college courses. I made a treatment plan for myself, although at the time I did not know that is what it was called. Basically I decided that I would keep away from the so called friends I had, stay away from my old neighborhood, and not do the things I was doing that got me into trouble with the law.

When I was realized from prison, I lived in a church basement. The Holy Apostle Church on 23rd Street and Eight Avenue. I will never forget that, just like my prison number is embedded in my brain- I will never forget it either. After a while I bumped into one of my ex-wife’s friend and she insisted that I leave the church basement and stay with her and her family until I got back on my feet. I did not want to but she insisted and to tell you the truth, while I truly appreciate the church for giving me a helping hand, I did not want to be there. So back to East Harlem I went. For a while I stuck to my plan. I got a job at the local Legal Clinic, Manhattan Legal Services and I attended John Jay College. With no treatment for my addiction it was inevitable that I relapse. And I did. I was on that vicious cycle for a couple more years until I became sick and tired of being sick and tired. Because I was working, I was now working for an outfit called Richmond Home Needs Services, I had health benefits. I committed myself to Gracie Square Hospital to begin my recovery.

While in the hospital, members of the various twelve step programs would come by to share with us their “experience, strength and hope” and to tell us that there is a better way, that addicts do recover. The stories that were shared with us really rung true. But certain people’s story hit home more than others. There were two such people that I identified with like that. One was Billy, an African American that had a story pretty similar to mine with whom I later forged a very good friendship with, and Manny whose story could have been mine. Manny wore fedora’s and even dressed similar to how I did.

One of the things that is stressed in the 12 Step Fellowships is the identifying of a sponsor. But it is more than just identifying one, it is actually asking that person to sponsor you.

I was discharged from the hospital on a Friday afternoon and I went seeking out Manny. I went to a meeting that he told me he attended regularly but was told that meeting meets on Saturday evenings. While I was really firm in my desire to stay clean and on the right track, I also knew my track record. I was afraid to stay alone because I just may get high and that would send me off to the “races” once again. So I decided to stay close to the meetings. Back then the meetings were pretty much almost around the clock. Many meetings took place on St. Marks Place in the East Village of New York, in what was once a very popular club called the “Electric Circus.”

Finally Saturday night came and I went to the meeting to meet and ask Manny to be my Sponsor. It was a Spanish speaking meeting and I sat toward the front like it was suggested “Come early, stay late. Sit up front so you don’t get distracted and learn to listen and listen to learn”. It was also emphasized that I should take the cotton out of my ears and stick it in my mouth. None of that made any sense to me but out of blind faith I did what I was told. Manny arrived about ten minutes before the meeting was to start. I was very excited and happy to see him. I saw that he knew everyone there, or so it seemed. Then I got cold feet. I could not bring myself to ask him to be my sponsor. All of my insecurities and self worthlessness surfaced. So I stood siting down. The meeting was a very good meeting. I do not remember what was spoken but I do remember it was a very good message. I do remember that a group of us went for coffee after the meeting and that Manny was one. Finally I worked up the courage to go speak to him. When I went up to him him he was genuinely happy to see me and even remembered my name. After the coffee house Manny asked me to hang out, so I did. Manny had a car and said that a group of his friends had a ritual every Saturday to eat at this particular restaurant on the lower east side. Needless to say as a result of Manny I met a lot of people, people that had similar interest as me, people that knew what I went through and what I was going through then.

I finally asked Manny to be my sponsor and instead we became the best of friends. I got back into my community advocacy and organizing. Together with one of my “square” friends I incorporated a non profit agency to help prevent youth from going through what I did. I asked Manny to serve on my Board of Directors and he agreed. Manny then asked me to help him start an agency similar to help out the youth in Brooklyn. Manny chose MAD as the name for his agency, Musica Against Drugs.

Shortly thereafter, Manny was diagnosed to be HIV positive. This was at the beginning of the whole epidemic and even in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous no one wanted to talk about it. In fact it was taboo to. There was this one Puerto Rican guy that shared at a meeting one day. He was crying and yelling and telling everyone that they were living in denial because as addicts many of us were infected but still undiagnosed, and that eventually many in the rooms of NA were going to start dropping like fly’s. One week later he was dead. He had been drug free for a little under ten years. Most of his clean time he acquired in AA because back then there were no NA meeting with any substantial time. Anyway, that guys sharing made Manny decide to get tested and he was positive. He shared with me and no one else knew that he was positive. As I stated, it was not talked about even in the rooms of recovering drug addicts. The AIDS epidemic was at its full trottle.

Mass hysteria in the population. The religious right and Ronald Reagan blamed Haitian immigrants for bringing in this disease to America. When it started affecting gay men, it became known as the gay man’s disease. After it was found to be a cluster of illnesses that were killing off those infected with it, because of a compromised immune system, it became known as AIDS, Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome.

Just like that Puerto Rican guy in that meeting predicted, recovering addicts in the “rooms” started dying. Soon, Manny started to share in meeting that he was positive to.

Manny went for help and services to the “Hispanic Aids Forum” and they did not provide services. It was one of those of agencies, you know the type, those that spring forth at a time of crises to get government funding. The Executive Director at the time was a woman named Miguelina Maldonado.
Many tried talking to her but she was never available. One of the employees there, I forget his full name but his first name was Joe, he was a gay man and saw how this agency was just a farce, a scam. He was also a member of ACTUP, I forget what the acronym stands for its something like the Aids Commission To Unleash Power. Basically it was an activist group founded on the principals of Saul Alinsky. Well Manny joined this group, he was one of the first straight men to do so and actually organize what they called an “action.” But I’m getting a head of myself. Manny joined ACTUP and asked me to support him, so I joined as well. Within ACTUP someone had formed a committee to deal with Latino issues, and within this committee Manny and Joe formed a sub-committee to deal with substance abuse. That is the sub-committee I joined. We made a presentation before the full membership of ACTUP for support and funding for Manny’s program Musica Against Drugs. We were the first straight group to get funding from ACTUP and to do an action against a “minority” agency.

Manny was a wonderful, fun loving awesome Salsero and because of this he was very charismatic. Manny used to credit me for his learning how to organize and work the local elected officials to get what he needed for his organization. The truth be known, I am clean and sober because of Manny. Manny was my sponsor, my best friend and my brother. I loved him- he saved my life.

It was through Manny’s sheer determination and perseverance, that he was able to get people together to form Musica. An art exhibit here, a fund raiser there and before long Musica Aganist Drugs became a premier social service agency helping people with HIV/AIDS and substance abuse problems. Manny asked me to serve as the Executive Director of Musica but I declined, instead I served on his Board of Directors as Secretary along with some really good people. People like Joe Turner a Lawyer that I met in the 1980’s and some of Manny’s close friends. When the funding came down, we hired Belen, Manny’s Wife as the Executive Director. By this time it was almost ten years that Manny was clean and sober. That means that he was infected for at least that long. Manny held hope that a cure would be found before he got ill but he was a realist. He was very aware that back then the average lifespan for someone diagnosed with HIV was ten years. By this time Manny was very ill. He had been in and out of the hospital two or three times and he was frail and weak. I spent Christmas with him and Belen along with a few of their close friends. Manny held onto his good sense of humor and excellent taste for good Latin music. The last time he was in the hospital, I asked him if I could take pictures and of course he allowed me to. He made Alfredo, a good friend of ours and the Chairman of the Board, pose with one hand on his hip and the other flicking back his imaginary long hair, a “Marilyn Monroe pose” is what Manny called it. We have a great laugh but we knew that these were Manny’s last days.

When Manny died many of us took it very hard. It seemed as if all of Brooklyn was at his wake in the Ortiz Funeral Parlor in Williamsburg Brooklyn. There were politicians, like Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, and others. Priest, nuns, teachers, sanitation workers, recovering addicts and some not recovering. There were so many people it was almost as if it had been the President in the casket and not a poor Puerto Rican boy, a recovering from Brooklyn.

As I write this I am crying like a baby at the memories of my good friend. I am one of the lucky one’s because I was not infected by HIV. But, that does not mean that I don’t have any battle scars because I do. But that is for another time. This post is in honor of the memory of my friend, my sponsor Manny “Suavecito” Maldonado. May he rest in peace.

How do the supporters of Georgie W. keep finding ways to defend his antics? Better yet, how do they do so with a straight face? Never in the history of the United States, and of the U.S. Presidency, has a sitting President stooped so low as to politicalize a campaign beyond the boarders of the United States. While he did not mention Senator Obama by name, everyone knows that it is he who Georgie was referring to. I guess “don’t air you dirty laundry in public” has no meaning to Georgie Bush. How do you defend that if you are a Bush supporter? It’s outrageous, hey but so was his election.

Everyone knows that the 2000 election was stolen from Al Gore. So, here we are almost at the end of his long, long rein in the White House, and what does Georgie have to show for his Presidency? Well lets see, when he came into office he inherited the biggest surplus in US history. Today we are trillions in debt. When he came into office we were basking in the sun of peace time. Today we are in our seventh year of a war that he declared over and won by us 90 days after he had begun it. One year after he was in office, the United States experienced the worst invasion in our history. Topping even the invasion of Pearl Harbor. Then when he had the guy that orchestrated that attack trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora, he gives the command for them to abandon that mission and instead go seek out Saddam Hussein. Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 but he did embarrass Georgie’s father when he was President. Nice to know that our President has his priorities correctly in place.

So, Senator McCain - you “Good Ole Boy” from the “Good Ole Party”, (GOP) in your next campaign speech let us hear you ask that one famous question that Georgie’s father asked when he was running for President, “Are we better off today than we were eight years ago”.

Ronald Reagan must be turning over in his grave; what a blunder you republicans have made of his (President Ronald Reagan’s) legacy. What with a bumbling fool that always manages to put his foot in his mouth for President! Not only did Reagan not like George H. Bush, now he has to R.I.P. knowing that Georgie Jr. is in the oval office. All I can say Ronnie, is that you left us in the nick of time.

God save us all, God Bless America.