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I No Longer Own Any Guns

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By Jerry Waxman

I did it! I finally sold off my last two working firearms and I feel as though a burden was lifted from my shoulders. Gun use was practically a rite of passage growing up. Many of the movies we love involve gun violence. True also of the TV series we watch. These guns weren’t used for target practice or hunting unless they were a necessary detail in the script a la The Deer Hunter. No, they were used to kill people, both bad and good people. I am a member of the first TV generation. We had a television in our house in Philadelphia in 1948 and actor Pete Boyle’s father, “Chuckwagon” Pete hosted Frontier Playhouse which aired at 6:00 just after Howdy Doody. Frontier Playhouse introduced us 8-10 year olds to The movie B Westerns and their stars, Hoot Gibson, Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Ken and Kermit Maynard, Tex Ritter, Tom Keene, Don “Red” Barry, Bill Boyd as “Hopalong Cassidy”, Robert Livingston, Buck Jones, Tom Mix, and yes, John Wayne, as a single and with his Mesquiteer partners Ray (Crash) Corrigan and Max Terhune. It also introduced us to their humorous sidekicks Gabby Hays, Dub Taylor, Howard St. John, Fuzzy Knight, Smiley Burnett, and several others. Later Cowboys on TV were Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Jock Mahoney as the Range Rider with Dick West All American Boy, Gail Davis (who played Annie Oakley) Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo as The Cisco Kid and Pancho (I absolutely loved them), Guy Madison and Andy Devine as Wild Bill Hickock and Jingles, and The Lone Ranger ( Clayton Moore) and Tonto (Jay Silverheels). The crime shows had not made their impact on the small screen yet, but when they did by the end of the fifties they replaced the westerns with increasing violence.

The Saturday matinee fare offered to the 10-14 crowd included Autry, Rogers, Rocky Lane (the voice of Mr. Ed), Jimmy Wakely, Charles Starrett as The Durango Kid, Rory Calhoun, Audie Murphy, Tim Holt, Randolph Scott, Joel Mcrea and scores of others. Regular movies of the period that were also in the matinees were Red River, Streets of Laredo, High Noon, Shane, well, you get the picture. We haven’t even mentioned the cops and robber movies or the war movies of the period. It was just accepted that films featuring gunplay were what we were going to see. Even Walt Disney made a hero out of Davy Crockett (“Killed him a b’ar when he was only three”) in 1954 and his ability to shoot straight; Disney called it family entertainment. Gun use was such a part of the culture that those who questioned it were looked on as kooks and freaks.

My own father, a staunch conservative Republican even by today’s standards, hated guns. He had a service revolver from WWII but it never entered our house. I don’t know whatever happened to it and I’ve only seen pictures of it with him in uniform. I did question him when I was about fifteen about guns and he let me know in no uncertain terms that in our society (1957) there is no need to have guns. They would only be harmful. Still, at camp I learned how to fire a rifle and in the service I fired expert with several different weapons including the Colt 45 M1911 which was standard issue for my MOS. I was fortunate that I never had to use it or any other weapon in a hostile action. I was also fortunate that I never saw action from 1964 through my discharge in 1970. In the period of time I was growing up mass murderers Howard Unruh, Charles Whitman, Charles Starkweather and Carol Fugate made spectacular headlines yet I don’t recall that there was any movement to make gun laws more stringent. More modern day massacres using weapons unavailable or undeveloped in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s have prompted people to tighten gun laws, however the NRA is willing to sacrifice human lives in order to let the weapons industry make even more profits. It’s about time congress addressed the issue in an adult and responsible manner.

I’ve heard all the arguments about second amendment rights. I agree that gun ownership should not be the question; gun use, however should be regulated. A gun is merely a tool that performs a function. People who hunt to supplement their food supply, and my son living in rural Mississippi is one such person, should be allowed to hunt. That doesn’t mean that they can blatantly carry their rifles around and shoot at a prospective meal. They need to be licensed for the privilege on lands specified for just that and they should be able to show the need for such, otherwise the rifle should remain in the cabinet. Similarly, people who own hand guns should produce the need to carry them; otherwise the gun is of no use outside the home. Anyone can buy a car if they can afford to, but driving is a privilege, controlled by local and state laws that determine how, when, where and under what conditions you can safely drive. Gun privileges should be determined by similar laws. It is absolutely ludicrous to assume that anyone needs the assault weapons on the market and legally available today, unless again they demonstrate the absolute need for them or they are a known serious collector of weapons that exhibit them. Legislators have not lived up to their collective responsibility and that needs to change before others needlessly die. Let’s face it, George Zimmerman had no legitimate reason to carry a gun that evening other than the fact that he could.

I had been collecting guns of one type or another since the late 70’s, mostly for fun, target practice and pretending to be a hunter. Since I had small children I followed my father’s advice and never had them in the house. They remained under lock and key in my warehouse. That was foolish, because if we had been robbed the guns may well have been stolen too. I used to go hunting with several of my upstate Pennsylvania customers during small game and deer season and the camaraderie was more important to me than the kill. In five or six years I never fired my rifles at any living thing, but the fun was being with my friends, camping out like we were children again.

Once we opened our small theater we presented a lot of shows that required firearms, so the guns came in handy. There is nothing so phony on stage as a toy weapon, especially in a 99 seat theater where the audience is on top of you. The one stage gun we did buy was a replica .357 Magnum that did not have a real barrel or firing mechanism. It was a glorified cap gun that didn’t fire more often than it did so we stopped using it. When the theater closed I got rid of all but two guns, an 1850 cap and ball Navy Colt, and a beautiful Smith & Wesson 38 special that was manufactured for the military during WWII. Even though they were real they had been used for theater props and I kept them for sentimental value only.

I eventually realized that my father was right. Owning a gun can be harmful, especially to you and your loved ones. Wearing a gun in public doesn’t prove anything except that if shooting starts and you get involved things may get worse. You could shoot innocent people. Sure, the shootings over the last ten years, especially this new one in Aurora, are horrible, and nothing is going to prevent another mass murder from happening in the near future unless government at all levels acts now to limit gun use.

When I think of all the events I’ve covered in the last few years from the foreclosure and health care battles, the tea party interrupted town hall meetings, the Occupy Orlando ordeals and the Trayvon Martin Rally among others, I realized that I never felt as though I needed a gun. In fact, a gun in my possession could have been a liability instead of an asset. I sold my guns last month to a gun dealer. I do not regret it. The Second Amendment may give us the right to have or own these weapons, but it is federal, state and local government’s responsibility to regulate how, where, when, why and under what conditions we can pull the trigger.

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Undercurrents

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By Jerry Waxman

Prior to this year the date June 28 produced a few blips on the radar of some historical significance. Here’s a sampling:

1846   Adolph Sax patents the saxophone

1902  Congress passes the Spooner Act authorizing the building of the Panama Canal

1914  WWI begins with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

1919  WWI ends with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles

1922  The Irish Civil War begins

1942  Germany expanded the war in Russia

1969 The Stonewall Riots begin

1978  The US Supreme Court bars the college quota system

Notable birthdays on this date include:

1491  British Monarch Henry VIII

1577  Artist Peter Paul Reubens

1703  Theologian John Wesley, founder of Methodism

1712  Philosopher Jean Jaques Rousseau

1873  Nobel Prize Winner Luigi Pirandello

1902  Composer Richard Rodgers

1902  Public Enemy John Dillinger

1909  Author Eric Ambler

1920  Author A.E. Hotchner

1926  Comic Genius Mel Brooks

1931  Racing Legend Junior Johnson

1934  U.S Senator Carl Levin

1938  Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

1941  Pitcher Al Downing, who seved up Hank Aaaron’s 715th home run.

1946  Actress Gilda Radner

1966  Actor John Cusack

By all accounts it was an ordinary day. Events happen, some special and not so special people are born and some special and not so special people die. It would be nice to think that it was an uneventful day but history demands that things happen which affect all of us and it chose June 28, 2012. Now I can never celebrate my birthday alone again. No, I can never again have the anonymity of only sharing my birthday with my daughter and my cousin.

Three things of note happened on June 28 which will go down in history. The Supreme Court 5-4 ruling upholding the Affordable Health Care Act will have the most impact and will be debated ad infinite for years to come. This decision, which could have come anytime in the last two weeks day sucked the air out of any other news story that happened:

  1.  In a heavily partisan vote the House of Representatives (including 17 Democrats) shamelessly and shamefully held Attorney General Eric Holder guilty in Contempt of Congress for doing his job properly.
  1. The Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) kicked off its national voter registration campaign in the historic town of Eatonville, Florida.

Let’s not waste any time on the SCOTUS decision because everyone else is going to put their two cents in for a long time. The only benefit of this decision is that Republican states will resist so heavily that it is fuel for Sharpton’s fire in energizing minority communities to register and vote. Let’s also not waste any time on the contempt charges either because they are meaningless. Again, it could fuel the fire if properly identified and used in the voter drives. What is more important is why only a relative handful of people were there in Eatonville for something as important as a national kickoff.

Eatonville was chosen because it was the first black incorporated town in the United States. During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War in 1882, Joseph C. Clarke bought land from Josiah C. Eaton, a white man who was willing to sell his land to Blacks. Clarke began selling lots to black families from Maitland, Orlando and Winter Park. On August 15 of 1887, the residents voted to incorporate. Eatonville was a way for the black community to create its own culture and town without having to deal with being subject to the white man’s rules. Eatonville is best known for its Zora Neale Hurston Arts Festival and the Zora Neale Hurston Library, which opened in 2004. Hurston was a mainstay of the Harlem Renaissance during the early part of the 20th Century. Much of her writing deals with her growing up in Eatonville.

NAN issued its press release on Monday, June 25, which gave people enough time to publicize the event properly. The network of churches and activists sent out their fliers yet only two local television stations and one local news organization were there to cover the event. This should have been covered by all the National news media.There were about sixty people at the invitation only luncheon and only a handful of activists showed up, some of whom were running for political office. Nobody knows more about generating publicity than Al Sharpton, so it seemed awfully strange that there wasn’t more activity generated. It also seems that an organization such as NAN travels awfully light with just a handful of people yet no media person and no advance team. NAN has been around since 1991 and they should have this down pat. Al Sharpton is a master at what he does and if you look at his exhausting schedule his time management skills are superior, but he can’t do it all. There was no one from NAN recording the event. Channels 9 and 13 were there but did not record everything. This should have been a PR Mecca for NAN. I offered to give them a disk with the complete video on it yet no one wanted to collect it before they left for Atlanta. Instead, I was told to mail it to an address in New York.

In contrast, however, Sharpton was in total control. He is a master at working the crowd and this was no exception. He stressed the importance of united action in getting people to register noting that everyone should be involved including all students, minorities and women. He recalled the civil rights battles of previous generations stating that no one gave them the right to vote; it had to be fought for and that many people gave their lives in order to get that vote. In a rebuff to today’s generations he called them selfish and lazy. He challenged them to stand up to the current voter suppression laws and help get ID’s for those who need them regardless of hardship and cost. It’s a small price to pay compared to the sacrifices of previous generations. Warning again that the conservative forces are going to fight hard to keep an estimated 5,000,000 people from voting the National Action Network is going to be fighting hard for every eligible voter to be able to vote. Citing the biblical story of King David, who had promised his crown to Solomon, his son by Bathsheba, his other son Adonijah plotted to steal the crown and become king upon David’s death. David, however did honor his agreement and Adonijah’s plans were thwarted. “Don’t let them steal your crown!” he warned. “Don’t let them steal your crown!” June 28, 2012. An ordinary day like any other, only it will never be the same.

Here’s links to the speeches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfxp1Bjsimk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqO-LEgNHz4

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Civil Rights for All Means Just That

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By Jerry Waxman

Equality seems to be coming in a lot of forms recently. The Republican War on Women shows the tremendous inequality that poor and middle class women face especially in health issues. The GLBT community has had a huge boost recently thanks to VP Joe Biden and President Obama and all of these equality issues are important to the specific groups involved.  There is a larger equality issue, however, that has largely been operating under the radar and at an extreme disadvantage; labor organizing. The Conservative movement and specifically Republican legislators have been working tirelessly to deprive workers of their right to be represented by a union. The crucible in this fight is heading for a conclusion in Wisconsin in early June  and the recall election of Scott Walker is too close to call at the present time. There is a remedy to this outlined in an op-ed letter I received from my friend Phyllis Hancock, who is head of the A. Philip Randolph Institute of Central Florida. Specifically, this is a civil rights issue and it makes a lot of sense. Workers are not a minority. They are the bulk of the people in this country, which encompasses people of every ethnic and religious makeup and they deserve the equal protection from abuse that the laws of this country provide for. Here’s the letter in its entirety:

The authors are Norman Hill and Velma Murphy Hill. Norman Hill, staff coordinator of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, is president emeritus of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Velma Hill, a former vice president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), is also the former civil and human rights director for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They are currently working on a memoir, entitled  “Climbing Up the Rough Side of the Mountain.”

In the United States, worker rights and civil rights have a deep and historic connection. What is slavery, after all, if not the abuse of worker rights taken to its ultimate extreme? A. Philip Randolph, president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, recognized this link and, as early as the 1920s, spoke passionately about the need for a black-labor alliance. Civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, Randolph’s protégé and an adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr., joined his mentor as a forceful, early advocate for a black-labor coalition.

The very title of the famous 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” conceived by Randolph and organized by Rustin, reflected their black-labor perspective. Two years later, they founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute, to solidify the black-labor alliance.

With prodding from Randolph, the AFL-CIO came to recognize the deep connection between labor rights and civil rights. The civil rights movement has moved similarly, acknowledging organized labor as by far its strongest ally. In 1961, King spoke to this, declaring that “Negroes are almost entirely a working people. Our needs are identical with labor’s needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, quality education and healthcare. That is why blacks support labor’s demands and fight laws that curb labor.”

That is why the labor hater and the race baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature, spewing anti-black epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other. And that is why, at the time of King’s assassination in 1968, he was preparing to lead a march in Memphis, Tennessee, in support of black striking sanitation workers.

Still today, the benefits of trade union membership for African Americans, women and Hispanics are clear. According to recent estimates, the wages of black union members are 31 percent higher than their non union counterparts.  The union wage advantage for women is 34 percent; for Latino’s, it’s a whopping 51 percent. Therefore, the union movement’s decline should be of special concern. In the mid-1950s, about one-third of the workforce belonged to unions. Today the proportion is 12 percent.

Is this decline inevitable; the unavoidable result of globalization, with union jobs going to low-wage countries? Apparently not. Although unionization rates have declined across most developed nations, nowhere else has deunionization been as pronounced or as sustained as in the United States.

Fortunately, a provocative new remedy has recently been proposed.

In Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right, Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit pinpoint the reasons for U.S. Labor’s decline and offer a plausible solution. They observe that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversees most unionization campaigns, does not offer effective remedies for illegal corporate retaliation against pro-union workers. Under NLRB procedures, workers who are fired for supporting unions, may not win back their jobs for years, if at all. Meanwhile, their co-workers are frightened into abandoning the unionization. The fines for union-busting are also so minimal that corporations have little to lose and much to gain by continuing their bad behavior.

Kahlenberg and Marvit argue that placing the right to organize under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act offers a possible solution. Their proposal would add abridgement of workers’ rights to discrimination against individuals based on race, gender, religion as a new protected category. Under the amended Civil Rights Act, pro-union workers could regain their jobs within days by a federal judge, and employers could face major costs if found guilty of breaking the law.

An amendment to the Civil Rights Act establishing the right to organize could not pass the current Congress. But discussion around the proposal can certainly begin now. And the labor and civil rights movements, in their traditional black-labor-minority coalition, can begin acting now through cooperation with other minority, religious and liberal organizations.

NAACP president Benjamin Jealous and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka have endorsed the idea of treating the right to organize as a civil right. More leaders of the liberal-labor alliance should begin advancing this concept while also working to elect representatives, senators, and a president who will translate it into law.

 

 

– Norman Hill and Velma Murphy Hill

 

Workers are certainly not represented properly and deserve the protection that this action could offer. Civil rights is not a selective process. We all deserve equality, not just a select few.

 

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((((((( Under The Radar )))))))

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By Jerry Waxman

It’s been almost a month since I’ve submitted any articles and my editor is getting antsy. “What do I pay you for?” he asks, to which I reply “You don’t. I do this for love.” “I love you” he says, and for the time being that’s enough. I have to also admit that my muse took a vacation for a while and it’s impossible to write anything when that happens. I’ve also been busy with my business, a couple of speaking engagements and a heavy commitment to a local political campaign which has usurped a lot of my writing time. A pattern has emerged, however that is deeply disturbing, so let’s examine some of what’s going on; lots of important and relevant stuff is going on that most media people are ignoring.

Image

Will Success Spoil Tim Osmar?

You remember Tim Osmar. He was arrested for the high crime of chalking on the sidewalks of Orlando City Hall and held in jail for 18 days over the Christmas holidays. The city eventually dropped the charges, He was fortunate enough to retain an excellent civil rights attorney, Dick Wilson, who also filed federal charges against the city. The city, in its lockdown mentality, fought back by blatant judge shopping. The city attorney, Mayanne Downs was rewarded for her efforts by being taken in to the politically active law firm of Grey Robinson, who does a ton of legal work for the city. The judge shopping didn’t work too well since the city lost the case and a settlement amount was reached. Downs was effectively kicked upstairs for her loyalty to Mayor Dyer regardless of what the actual dollar costs are to the taxpayers. The settlement figures are not being withheld, yet nobody is talking.

I saw Tim recently at a social event. Gone were the long hair, the Grateful Dead tie-dye and the beard. In their place he sported a button down oxford shirt, tailored slacks and loafers. He was clean shaven and had his hair styled. Perhaps his physical appearance is a little more attractive than before but he is still the same Tim. He is truly someone who marches to his own drum beats and we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

HEYYYYYYYYABBOTT!

Moving on from the sublime to the ridiculous, another long awaited trial began April 24 that was sure to be a nail biter. When I arrived at the courthouse every media outlet had their linkup units going. Great, I thought. I can go to the press room and get the live feeds if I can’t record this myself. There was this huge line getting into the courthouse going through security and it took close to 20 minutes which meant that we would be about five minutes late for the start of the trial. It didn’t matter because the sign on the door said that the 1:30 trial scheduled would begin at 2:00 and the doors were locked.

It turns out that all of the media attention was for the attempted murder trial of boxer Christie Martin’s husband. Our courtroom was for the more mundane trials of Traffic Court. The long awaited trial was that of Lawrence Levite aka known in Occupy circles as Nome Travels who dared to defy authorities by jaywalking on a city street.

ImageNome is a rebel from way back. He’s fortunate enough to come from a family of means and he travels around with his self propelled RV and his motorcycle. He’s on an allowance so there are times of the month when he’s dead broke yet that doesn’t matter to him. He’s in the protest movement for real. He’s been through this more than once and he enjoys suing the authorities in court which he’s successfully done before.

The doors opened at 2:00 and everyone (except the prosecutors, plaintiffs and cops) were told to turn off their phones and recording devices or they would be removed from the court. The bailiffs actually did remove two of Nome’s witnesses for just that. After all, Traffic Court is a really solemn institution that needs to be respected. After about a half hour of other trials where it seems that everyone pleaded through their attorneys to traffic fines and court costs it was time for Nome’s trial. Nome’s attorney, the aforementioned Dick Wilson asked to be removed as Nome’s attorney, which the judge granted. Nome represented himself with the Abbott and Costello defense.

“Look, if I wanted a pick I would have picked the pick, but I wanted the shovel because the shovel is my pick.”

Pick any of the wordplay routines and they all work; Who’s on First? Two tens for a Five. The shovel is my pick or anything else. Nome’s arsenal was ready. When asked how he pleaded his response was “I’m not pleading-I’m the plaintiff here!” As Nome twisted the words to say “I‘m the state” the judge’s tolerance was worn a little thin, yet she gave him as much freedom as she could allow. Taking the position that Nome needed assistance in understanding his circumstance she tried to instruct him, however Nome would have none of it. His intent was clearly to make a mockery of the whole affair and he succeeded just short of being held in contempt. He knew exactly what he was doing. At that point ‘Duckie’ Wasman and I were ejected from the courtroom for “Whispering too loud.” The judge withheld adjudication and told Nome she would mail him her decision.

According to Nome her decision was that he was found guilty, but not assessed any penalty or court costs. He is starting an appeal. That should be interesting since this entire process is a monumental waste of everyone’s time and taxpayer dollars.

Hello! Is anyone there?

 That same day Seminole County teachers were planning to address their school board with reasons why they should get their pay raised. They demonstrated in front of the School Board and then went inside the building to air their grievances. The area was full and taxed to the limit with teachers and supporters. Many spoke passionately and a few spoke accusingly, as well as reminding the Board of the sacrifices they made. The spark that ignited the conflict was that the Board had voted itself a pay raise claiming that the law stipulated they had to. What came to light was that, while technically true, The Florida School Board Association sent out a letter to all state school boards warning them not to accept the pay raise, which the Seminole Board ignored. Some members gave the money back after the letter was made public, but on April 24 this board was going to stonewall. Many school officials were sitting in the back row of the chamber checking their e-mail or playing Solitaire and other games during official business. This turns my stomach. The last thing most Florida school boards do is exactly what they should be doing-advocating for the kids and those who teach them. Instead they have become the temple money changers who dole out what they get never questioning their funders or holding them accountable. Warning to Florida legislators and school boards: Screw our kids today and you’ll be amazed and horrified to see how they pay you back in 20 years. I only hope I live to see it and write about it.

“Well after all, Pickering, I’m an ordinary man, who desires nothing more than an ordinary chance, to live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants. An average man am I, of no eccentric whim, who likes to live his life, free of strife, doing whatever he thinks is best, for him. Well… just an ordinary man”……But let a woman in your life….!”

George Bernard Shaw’s exquisite tale of the battle of the sexes, Pygmalion, later adapted by Lerner and Loewe for the musical stage as My Fair Lady, shows in graphic detail what men in general think of women in general. Henry Higgins molded Eliza Doolittle into whatever He wanted Her to be, without regard for her feelings or abilities. Throughout history women have been bought, sold, bartered and abused as much as through their family connections as well as by strangers. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet offers us a glimpse into the “how-to-use-children-for-fun-and-profit” world of powerful families. Those rare instances where women were born to power and knew how to use it, Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great and others proved to powerful men that women needed to be kept in their place. If Joan of Arc had been a man he might have wound up as Pope.

The women’s movement started at about the same time as the abolitionist movement in the USA. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. They had both been abolitionists who were denied any credentials at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840. The abolitionists, including Stanton’s minister husband, felt that the end of slavery (meaning Black men) was more important than women’s issues. Cady Stanton, Mott, Susan B. Anthony fought for 50 years for women’s rights, never giving up the battle. Their early suffragette activism finally paid off in 1922 when women did get the right to vote. That was just another overcome obstacle on the path to true equality. The path is still not clear. It seems that as one obstacle is overcome another one is put in place.

Republican state legislators have been having a field day over the last few years passing draconian laws that affect women primarily. The recent Susan G. Komen debacle shows just how deeply the right wing has infiltrated charities and foundations that deal with women’s issues. All of this particular legislation is emanating from ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. So now we’re engaged in the War on Women, which Republicans say doesn’t exist which is code for the War on Women does exist and the actions of all these legislators proves it beyond a doubt.

The National March Against the War on Women was planned for April 28, and in cities and towns across the nation the actions took place. There were three major actions in Florida. Orlando hosted a march that included a crowd of over 400 people at Senator Beth Johnson Park, where Occupy Orlando started. One would think that the major media outlets would have been covering the event and that would have been dead wrong. There were several speakers plus candidates for office, yet not one word was published in the Orlando Sentinel on Sunday. What better way to disavow the War on Women than to ignore it? UPDATE:  Susannah Randolph, wife of State Rep. and Orange County DEC Chairman Scott Randolph, wrote a guest editorial in the Orlando Sentinel that exposes the War on Women in graphic detail, outlining for the first time Americans United for Life, which is allied with ALEC and works solely on women’s issues. Is it time yet for Lysistrata?

“Old rockin’ chair’s got me, my cane by my side…….”

 As a Philadelphia native I’m well aware of the contributions of Maggie Kuhn and others who broke the stereotype of senior citizens. Age is now rapidly becoming a state of mind rather than a chronological condition for many people including yours truly. Kuhn founded the Gray Panthers after she was forced to retire at the age of 65. The Gray Panthers are still fighting for senior rights and everyone else’s rights as well. One of the byproducts of her activism is a huge reservoir of seniors who refuse to be put in a rocking chair and left for dead. The Alliance for Retired Americans is one such activist organization that has come about over the years and is flexing its power nationally. Originally created as a retiree organization for former union members the Alliance is in every state and numbers close to five million members. The Florida chapter alone has over 200,000 members and they are becoming much more politically active than they have been. Their issues are clear and they don’t like what has been going on in Tallahassee and elsewhere in Florida. President Tony Fransetta travels all over the state wherever there are demonstrations and adds ARA muscle to the protests. At 75 he sets a pace that people half his age would have a hard time keeping up with. During his tenure as President since 1999 he has watched his membership grow from a handful of people to over 200,000 and closing in on a quarter of a million committed seniors striving for social and economic justice. Nor is the ARA resting on its laurels. The Southeast Region had a conference recently at the Walt Disney Buena Vista Resort for activists to familiarize them with the new social media and the impact it has on political races.

These people are dissatisfied with things the way they are and they are going to help change things. They were here to learn. I was honored to be a guest panelist along with some dynamite speakers, including Tony and his terrific organizer, Jen Kenny. The audiences really enjoyed these discussions and asked great questions in the Q & A period. They are going to be very active this political season starting with Wisconsin where they are going to make their presence felt. By the way, 70 is the new 50. Trust me, I know this.

“Folks are dumb where I come from, they ain’t had any learnin.”

 You would think that a school board member would be fairly familiar with educational issues and events such as National Education Week and all the other stuff that deals with education. Orange County Public Schools is the 11th largest school system in the nation and even if the individual board members are in the dark they have layers upon layers of staff to keep them informed. At the beginning of every meeting there are always the self serving gratuitous announcements such as recognizing certain students or clubs or school organizations for their achievements, so it was a bit of a downer when during the announcing phase of the meeting Chairman Bill Sublette omitted that it was National Teacher Appreciation Week. A palpable pall was in the air. Only one board member, Nancy Robbinson, even alluded to the occasion. Sandra Maldonado-Ross, a current candidate for school board questioned Sublette who came up with excuse that he didn’t know. That’s an appalling statement for one of the most powerful people in Central Florida to admit. Sublette is the most unique elected official in the entire United States because the voters of Orange County, spurred on by the Chamber of Commerce were finagled into electing a School Board Chairman who has two votes. The 2010 elections provided for seven districts plus an elected chairman who had the power to break a tie. This is a shameful episode for a group whose sole purpose is to advocate for the students. Sublette’s only connection to education is that he has children in a public school. He’s there to protect the construction industry’s billion dollar a year budget no matter how badly the kids or teachers are shafted in the process. Parents and community activists should be outraged about this and they should get involved in the coming elections and vote these people out.

Occupy the Board Room

 The last thing any publicly held corporation, or any government commission wants is you, John Q. Public, sitting in on their meetings actually watching them make decisions. The whole atmosphere in the room changes when you are there, cameras in hand, asking probing questions. The strategy is effective and makes them nervous as hell. Publicly held corporations hold yearly stockholder meetings and they go to great lengths to make sure that you will not attend by holding them in far away cities in expensive resorts at perfectly bad times of the year. You can thank the Occupy movement for the strategy. So far in Florida there have been occupations of Bank of America and most recently on May 16th an occupation of Chase in Tampa and on May 17th an occupation of Coventry Health Care at the Ritz Carlton in Ft. Lauderdale. Coventry is one of the many insurers who are fighting tooth and nail to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. One of the reasons is that by law all insurers must spend 80 per cent of the premium costs on actual health care, leaving them 20 per cent to deal with overhead and profit. Organize Now, HCAN, Florida New Majority, Awake Broward and other organized an action against Coventry, and the Alliance for Retired Americans joined in the action which took place outside the hotel on A1A. There was also a flash mob inside the hotel which ridiculed Coventry to the tune of Puttin’ on the Ritz which then carried over to the street. Only one reporter from the Herald with a tape recorder appeared. No camera crews…..nothin. Here’s an op-ed piece by Ben Markeson that details the days activities. Tony Fransetta again spoke elegantly about the inequality in the system. The most disturbing part was not that the crowd was ignored, but that two legitimate stockholders were denied entry into the meeting. That’s not OK.

During this election year most media outlets are going to continue to report the most mundane stuff in ways that they think will interest you. The pollsters will continue to make you think the election is closer than it really is so that they can continue to get paid. No broadcaster is going to turn down what amounts to free money for political ads however misleading they are, and very few if any corporately owned newspapers will look through these smokescreens. Why? It is not in their interests to lessen the revenue stream and it is in their interests to keep you afraid and in the dark.

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THE REVOLUTION WAS TELEVISED (ONLY WE DIDN’T KNOW IT)

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THE REVOLUTION WAS TELEVISED

(ONLY WE DIDN’T KNOW IT)

By Jerry Waxman

Dance programs on radio were nothing new in 1957. They had been around in one form or another since the dance marathons of the Depression years. Swing bands used to do remote national hookups into living rooms across the country and the kids used to dance at their house parties until all hours. This was best illustrated in the movie The Benny Goodman Story where the band is mobbed in California by hordes of teenagers. They had no way of knowing at that time that there was an audience in the west. Frank Sinatra’s time with the Dorsey orchestra was well spent gathering him a multitude of fans that went crazy over him in public. His 1942 dates at the Paramount are legend with bobbysoxers screaming, swooning and dancing in the aisles during the show. Radio dance programs were standard stuff by the late 30’s.

In Philadelphia radio station WPEN had two hosts, Joe Grady and Ed Hurst who used to broadcast from the downtown studio on Walnut Street. There was a dance floor in the studio and they used to invite teen agers from local schools to come and dance during their program. The year was 1946 and they were successful for many years. Of course, the music they played was in transition from swing, through Bebop, into R&B and finally Rock and Roll. It was a slow transition because the popular bands were Artie Shaw, Charlie Barnett, The Dorseys, Goodman, Kay Kyser and Sammy Kaye. The big vocalists were Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole Dinah Shore and two newcomers named Doris Day and Tony Bennett. Things were changing, however and groups like Louis Jordan, Three Cats and a Fiddle and Louis Prima were starting to make names for themselves, with music that wasn’t quite what the public was used to. Still, the kids loved it and loved to dance to it. The big breakthrough came in 1951 when Guitarist Les Paul and his wife, Mary Ford turned the music world upside down with their multi-track overdubbed recording of How High the Moon, a ten year old jazz staple that blew everybody away, and everyone young and old loved it. Les Paul became the high priest of the solid body electric guitar and even in death he still holds the title. The first revolution in pop music was over-the stage was set for the second one.

Grady and Hurst moved to television in 1952 but they didn’t get onto any of the network stations in the area. They were operating out of an independent in Wilmington Delaware, while at the same time WFIL TV, the ABC affiliate was experimenting with some live afternoon programming. Producer Tony Mammarella brought in Bob Horn to host a music program of mainly what today would be music videos. Horn didn’t like the idea and asked Mammarella if he could copy what Grady and Hurst were doing on radio. Mammarella agreed and history was born. Horn hosted the show for four years, and it was an important four years because Bandstand helped WFIL get on its feet and brought in nice revenues. Horn, however was not destined to last. He was involved with a prostitution ring and was brought up on morals charges over those four years. The final straw was when he was arrested for drunk driving. Mammarella hosted the show for a while until he could find a suitable replacement.

During the years between 1950 through 1956 the industry was again changing. Ray Charles was setting the South on fire along with Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. Country artist Patsy Cline was making her mark. In New York the music factories in the Brill Building were starting to crank out hit after hit. Disc Jockey Alan Freed coined the term “Rock and Roll” and started staging singing groups in a series of concerts, playing black music for white kids. Disc Jockeys in major cities on independent stations started playing the records and drew avid audiences. Bill Doggett’s Honky Tonk blew the charts away. The tune was so long that they had to split it into two sides. Part two was the one that got air time. In Philadelphia we had local DJ’s Georgie Woods, Hy Litt, Jocko Henderson and Joe Niagara playing the new music and we had jobbed in the “Hound Dog Man” out of Buffalo, N.Y. Local impresario Bob Marcucci was training Frankie Avalon and Fabian for future stardom. Philly also produced James Darren and Bobby Rydell along with great groups like Danny and the Juniors, the Dovells and in my opinion, one of the two best DooWop groups of all time, Lee Andrews and the Hearts. School officials, politicians, angry parents, the church and civic groups all railed against the new music saying that it would be the downfall of society as we know it (we’ve heard these words before), it was the devil’s music and using racial and ethnic epithets that are too horrible to mention here.

“Then Fate’s a thing without a head. A puzzle never understood, and man proceeds where he is led, unguaranteed of bad or good.”


Enter Dick Clark. It wasn’t as though Mammarella had to go through a nationwide search or anything. Dick Clark was already at WFIL. Clark was a seasoned radio host from upstate New York who had joined WFIL in 1952. He was young (27), boyishly handsome, soft spoken and charming. Just the sort of young man that Jim and Margaret Anderson would want Betty to date. He was the host on an afternoon pop music show that had not yet embraced R&R, although he was the first mainstream jockey on a commercial station to play Ray Charles (Hallelujah I Just Love Her So). The other network stations hadn’t come around yet. If Benny Goodman made big band swing jazz acceptable, then Dick Clark is the man who civilized Rock and Roll. He was the face of the new generation and we were all part of it. Clark had previously guest hosted American Bandstand on those occasions when Horn was unavailable, so he fit right in. The moment that Clark took over viewership increased exponentially and more kids from more schools were going to the studios every day. After a few months Clark was instrumental in convincing ABC to take the program national, and history was made.

Bandstand went national in August, 1957. We entered 10th grade in September, 1957, and Sputnik was launched in October, 1957. These events are not unconnected. Public education was blamed for the failure of our schools to produce better students. It wasn’t true then just as the conservative attacks on public education is not true now. Many critics pointed to the leisure activities of teenagers as a part of the problem. Dick Clark helped smooth away those contentions, although in doing so he also lowered the artistic bar a few points. Rock and Roll was going to be around for a long time and even some of our parents started singing the novelty stuff like Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Beep and Please, Mr. Custer. When Philadelphian Chubby Checker covered Hank Ballard’s The Twist the adults and the kids went wild. Ballard’s music at the time was considered to be too raw for air play. Looking back on those years the social revolutions of the mid 50’s, Brown v Board of Ed, school desegregation, HUAC witch hunts, all gave rise to the revolution in teen age style, voice, attitudes and music that set the stage for the protest movement of the 60’s. The seeds and maturity of that revolution came into our living rooms every weekday with Dick Clark at the helm.

Clark took it all in stride. He was savvy enough to capitalize on the success of Bandstand yet he never gave the appearance of being egotistical; he always came across as a gentleman and he was genuinely concerned about the people he was with. I outgrew Bandstand after 1960, but I never outgrew Dick Clark. He is a role model for all of us.

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Don’t Ever go to Sleep! (Or Whatever Happened to My Vote?)

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By Jerry Waxman

Remember that final scene in the great 1956 sci-fi flick The Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Remember Kevin McCarthy running down the highway bouncing off of trucks loaded with alien seed pods shouting to us warning that as we slept they took us over? Let’s apply that to what’s happened in this country in the last thirty years since the Reagan Revolution. So, how did this happen? It’s really quite simple. Here’s part of the puzzle: a conservative activist that most of us have never heard of, Paul Weyrich, created the idea that some people should be denied the vote and he took up the cause. Just because we never heard of him doesn’t mean he didn’t affect our lives in a big way. Weyrich was the impetus in the founding of The Heritage Foundation and he was the driving force behind the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) among many other conservative initiatives so you can bet that this dude was into some serious stuff.

Take a real good look at this 1980 speech in Dallas before a major Religious Right gathering that also included speeches by Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell where Weyrich lays out the reasons for suppressing the vote. That was thirty two years ago, the year Ronald Reagan was elected and the year that the Republican long term plan to take over American politics was finally set into place. It had been in the incubator since 1955 when Milton Friedman first devised his “School Voucher” scheme in reaction to Brown v Board of Ed. Followed by and furthered along by attorney Lewis Powell, a partner in a law firm that had unsuccessfully argued against Brown. Powell’s now famous memorandum, calling for the Chamber of Commerce to be involved in local and national politics, got him placed on the Supreme Court by then President Nixon about two months after he wrote it in 1971. It took Weyrich a couple more years to put the financing into place but he convinced Joe Coors and other conservatives to invest in The Heritage Foundation which is a right wing economic and policy center.

At the same time Weyrich also planted the seeds for ALEC. Here’s the history of ALEC. Since Conservative strategy is long term they wait until the timing is right for their initiatives, and they slowly chip away at our safety nets in the process so that when they do strike we don’t realize the severity of it until it is too late. One can look back at that old movie and look at it in perspective. It was at the height of the conservative manufactured “Red Scare” most exemplified by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and HUAC that it came out. Many say that it is a metaphor for Communism taking over America; however that’s not a likely point of view. We had been fighting Communism for years since the first Red Scare in the 20’s and not only were they not taking over, they had no real impact; they were just the convenient targets of the witch hunt. Actors, directors, writers and producers from the late 40’s on were the real victims, especially since a great deal of them came from European families and struggled during the Depression. They were also overwhelmingly Jewish. Black actors such as Paul Robeson and Canada Lee were also targeted victims. The real message of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers was that if we were not careful we could surrender our hard fought freedoms to McCarthyism without even knowing it. The year 1956 also helped usher in the era of the John Birch Society, whose co-founder was Fred Koch, the father of Charles and David Koch. Weyrich passed away in 2008 but the damage done by him will live a long time.

With time and plenty of money on their side all these conservative groups looked to poke holes in the social safety net in their quest to destroy the New Deal and send us back to the Gilded Age. They almost succeeded. They were completely prepared for the election of Barack Obama having had contingency plans laid out for questioning his legitimacy, stonewalling his legislation and weakening his voter base. It’s amazing how the Tea Party sprung into action so quickly. It’s also amazing how they tried to project the failures and weaknesses of the Bush Administration onto Obama. Consider what’s happening right now with oil prices and how they are trying to singularly blame him. Facts don’t matter to them-messaging successes do. This successful messaging resulted in big wins for conservatives in 2010. Now was the time for many of ALEC’s carefully crafted plans to be introduced into state and federal legislation. Yes, Democrats were again asleep at the wheel. It really began during the Clinton Administration with the President signing the Telecommunications Act of 1994, NAFTA, and Gramm, Leach Bliley which overturned Glass, Steagle and allowed banks to engage in questionable mortgages and loans.

So, today with many states having large Republican majorities in their legislatures and Republican governors the time was right for ALEC to start flexing its muscles, which started in early 2011. All it took were partisan votes to give tax breaks to people who didn’t need them and cut funding for people and institutions that desperately needed the money to survive, thereby affecting education and health care specifically. The one-two punch would be for legislators to keep enough people from voting so that power would stay in their hands. What they didn’t figure on was that there would be opposition from actual people. It started in Wisconsin. It got to Florida too. The reaction to the legislation in Wisconsin by the people has been inspiring. Two state senators have been recalled in special elections and a third who is facing recall resigned, leaving the state senate in an even tie. Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker is now officially facing recall as well as the lt. governor and a few more senators.

Florida is nowhere near as progressive as Wisconsin so it is going to take a little longer, but things are starting to happen. Last year in March Awake the State staged its first protests in thirty cities and towns across Florida and immediately caused an impact. Several ALEC written bills were put aside although a few, including HB 1355, the voter suppression bill were enacted. The bills that were not enacted last year were brought up again this year, but more on that later. Awake the State staged further protests and other groups started to spring up. At the same time the Arab Spring was taking place causing successful uprisings in Egypt and in Libya. The introduction of social media has helped change the game. Enter Occupy Wall Street and all the other occupations. The occupations have changed the conversation if not the dynamic. The occupations are only six or seven months old and they still have a long way to go before they become a force to be reckoned with but all indications are that all of these recent protest movements are making gains where none existed two years ago. This year all of the protest groups were ready to do battle. Enough complaints were sent to Sen. Bill Nelson’s office that he requested that Sen. Dick Durbin hold hearings on HB 1355. Durbin, at the press conference after the formal hearings made mention that this same type of legislation is being pushed in several states by ALEC.

Many more groups were regularly in Tallahassee sitting in on committee meetings and lobbying legislators. Much of the ALEC sponsored legislation either did not make it out of committee or was voted down on the Senate floor. Court challenges also downed other legislation. People, ordinary everyday people made this happen. Two years ago all of the Republicans, including Governor Rick Scott were campaigning on job creation and economic growth. Once elected nothing resembling their campaign platforms happened and in fact the state has lost close to a million jobs due to their lack of planning and vision and concentration on restrictive legislation. Last year I wrote two columns about Awake the State’s efforts and how hard it is to wake some people up. Once awake, though, they can be a formidable force. Yes, people, ordinary everyday people are going to change the face of politics in this state and it is happening now.

Awake Orlando was born in January of this year when a loosely knit group of people from the unions, civic groups, the occupy movement and civic activists in general said “Let’s get together and do something.” The working title was called Orlando Unity and the purpose of the group was to create civic actions that would bring public awareness to non accountability in government policy.  The first official action of the group was to focus on voter suppression associated with HB 1355. The focus was not only on the bill itself but also on the legislators who both sponsored it and voted for it and a special Jim Crow award was fashioned to give to supporters of the bill. It was scheduled for Friday, March 30 at 12:00 PM.

At 12:00 precisely a group of activists assembled outside of Rep. Eric Eisnaugle’s (Fla. 40) office at 2212 Curry Ford Rd. to present him with the award. Speakers Valerie Cepero, a student, Lorraine Tuliano, President of AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, Phyllis Hancock of the Central Florida A. Phillip Randolph Institute and civic activist Doug Head, former chairman of the Orange Democrats all gave their different views on voter suppression before entering Eisnaugle’s office. Eisnaugle was nowhere to be found so they dealt with his District Secretary, Edgar Robinson. They presented Robinson with the Jim Crow Legislator Award and asked that he give it to Eisnaugle. When questioned why Eisnaugle supported the bill or even if he knew what was in it Robinson evaded by not giving any direct answers instead referring to staff analysis of all legislation.

As a result of the hearings held by Senator Durbin the Justice Dept is now looking into HB1355 and there is much speculation that the law will be overturned by the courts. The lesson learned here is that we must constantly be vigilant. We need to stop this kind of legislation in its tracks before it gets to the courts. That requires civic involvement by everyone. Had Florida Democrats not been so afraid of the NRA perhaps the ALEC sponsored “Stand Your Ground” legislation would not have passed. Paul Weyrich is dead but you can bet that somebody either has replaced him or will replace him and carry on his work. We need to be ready.

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An Open Letter to George Zimmerman

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By Jerry Waxman

March 29, 2012

Dear George,

I hope you don’t mind me calling you George, but I feel that in the last few weeks I’ve gotten to know you pretty well as I can’t avoid all the articles and publicity about you. So, I’m just wondering if you would grant me a simple request. Would you please rethink what you’re doing and turn yourself in, come clean and ‘fess up? It is true that you have not been charged with anything, and by your own account you were defending yourself, so why are you in hiding? What are you afraid of? You don’t seem to realize that your actions have unleashed a juggernaut that, if left unchecked, will engulf this country in really nasty circumstances. Let me explain:

 

“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won’t have it! Is that clear?………… YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU… WILL… ATONE!”

That quote is from the movie Network where one man was capable of turning public opinion just by talking. The head of his network is scolding him for speaking his mind and upsetting the apple cart, and, George, this is one hell of an apple cart you’ve got tipped over. I don’t know if it’s even possible to set it right again but you’ve got to try.

There is a groundswell building in the Black and the Progressive communities that will not be ignored. The rally in Ft. Mellon Park and the town hall meeting in the Sanford Community Center showed that there is a demand for justice. You’re only a part of it, although you are the key. The demands for arresting you continue to expose the Jim Crow mentality Seminole County as well as the rest of Central Florida to the entire world. Already you have caused two Seminole County public servants to lose their jobs because they tried to put a lid on it and there will be more to come. You have also created a Trayvon Martin Industry  which will continue to grow. A new special prosecutor with no ties or loyalties to the region can do irreparable harm to the good ol’ boy way of life here. Do you really want that to happen? FYI, The Orange County School Board still hasn’t fully complied with a Federal Court decision issued in 1961. We here in Central Florida need to keep that system in place.

At the town hall meeting Monday every speaker, Rev. Al Sharpton, Trayvon’s parents, Ben Crump, Rev. Jamal Bryant, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rep. Corrine Brown (your congresswoman), Urban League CEO Marc Morial, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and young Mr. Mitchell of the NAACP college div. were all citing legal reasons why you should be taken into custody. The march before the meeting and the rally outside in the park afterwards attracted many thousands of people who demanded more of the same. All kinds of people spoke up; White, Black, Asian, Latino gay, lesbian, etc.  demanding you stand trial. Now, here’s the problem; it’s not going to go away until something positive is done by authorities. These speakers are very powerful and they have a national audience and that audience is being whipped into a frenzy by all this. It won’t be violent as all the speakers are eschewing violence, but there is a much bigger thing to fear: these people are going to vote. Not only here, but in the rest of the country as well and you’ve given them a cause. You’ve done in one single act what ACORN, the President, the DNC, the unions and the League of Women Voters were unable to do-you’ve riled them up. By the way, those police videos released yesterday by ABC and the statements made by your father are not helping your case at all. In fact, now you have some real ‘splainin to do.

Imagine how many black churches there are in Central Florida alone. Then think about the entire state. Then think about Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and other Jim Crow states that have these voter suppression laws that won’t stop these people. Those pastors have a way of swaying the crowd that is pure genius. Think about the “Shoot First” laws that all these states enacted to protect you from them. In one fell swoop that could all go away. Think about your hard working state senators Gardiner, Hays, Simmons and Altman, and your equally hardworking state reps Metz, Brodeur, Dorworth and Plakon. These men have worked diligently to ruin our public schools, restrict minority voting rights and give us our guns to shoot these people with and all that is in jeopardy of going up in smoke. You are endangering ALEC’s master plan and I’m sure they are not happy about that. After all, they have spent a lot of years and a ton of money keeping these people suppressed and in their place.

Think about the people who inadequately defended you. Lawrence O’Donnell absolutely destroyed any credibility that your Lawyer, Craig Sonner had because of his walkout. Rene Stutzman will probably never get another good tip from her sources, and Joe Oliver will probably never get a media job again after O’Donnell and Charles Blow got done with him and his inept performance. Hey, think about me! Do you know how hard it is to write this stuff and keep it interesting? Do you have any idea how many racist and hateful comments I’ve blocked on Youtube just to protect you from being associated with racists? I’m letting many comments in support of you and against Trayvon go through as long as they don’t contain cursing or racist language. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I’m getting more hits than I can believe on these videos and since they are monetized I might get a little cash. Think about your legislators. If they get bounced your protection is over. You really have nothing to lose.

Think about it. Turning yourself in could bring a halt to everything. It could stem the momentum building in the Black community and blunt the investigations that are now underway. If you are indicted you’ll have to stand trial anyway so why not take a preemptive stance. Number one, you’ll have a legal defense fund based on lots of the comments I’ve seen and every Seminole County legislator plus their superpacs will assure you that the fund will be well financed. Number two, you’ll be able to get fabulous representation. There must be scores of lawyers much better (and braver) than Craig Sonner who would jump at the chance to defend you. Number three, you and your attorney can craft a credible story if what you’ve been saying is true, and get it out nationally. You may actually have to face manslaughter charges and some lesser charges, but people who kill other people in Central Florida many times are found not guilty. As long as you have a jury panel from one of the far northwestern counties, or actually get a change of venue you stand a good chance of walking free. Even if you have to serve a little time that’s going to be the price for righting the apple cart. So, George, it’s up to you to take one for the team and protect our time honored corrupt way of life here. Do it for your own self respect. Do it for all of your supporters. Do it for the “Gipper.”

Sincerely,

Jerry Waxman

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Rally OTG: Oh, My Feet!

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By Jerry Waxman

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett

Going to an event such as the rally for Trayvon Martin in Sanford’s waterfront Ft. Mellon Park can be fun, educational, inspiring as well as painful. In order to operate the video camera I needed to be as up front as possible. I left home early thinking that I had to be there prior to 6:00 PM to even have a chance at a good position. I arrived well on time; the trouble is that so did thousands of other people. So, I parked what seemed to be about a mile away as there was nothing close. Even that far away there were hordes of people coming from all directions filtering into the little side street where I was. Foot traffic was wending its way down to the main drag of Downtown Sanford. There was no bucking it; I was swept away, cameras, tripod and bags in hand.

The crowd determined where we went. Eventually we landed on Sanford’s main drag, a quaint brick paved street with small town Main Street kind of buildings housing small merchants and eateries that police had warned to close early in case there was “trouble.”  Along the way I met two gentlemen who told me of their civil rights struggles in the 50’s and 60’s. They were down from New York for the event. They told me that Dick Gregory was down with the reverend Al. We were discussing Gregory’s multi-faceted career while the crowd kept moving me and stepping on my feet. Once inside the park it was no better. A solid wall of people hid the waterfront from view. You could not see the lake. All of the network and cable news uplink trucks were on the lakefront side of the park. Getting to them was an ordeal and once I did there was no view of the stage. Now I had to buck the crowd to get to the press area in front of the stage. More shoving, pushing, tripping and excuse me’s than I care to count. Lots of people brought chairs which made the entire place an obstacle course. At 6:15 it’s still light out so at least there’s some reaction time to stop and change direction.

Finally, I arrived at the press area, an hour before the event is to start and there is absolutely no room to set up my video cam. Two guys from Fox 35 graciously gave me a foothold where I could set up the tripod. There was no place to go without swimming through a sea of people so basically I had to stand in place, shifting my weight from time to time  just to relax one leg or the other. People were constantly shoving and bumping into the camera crews and stepping on our feet in their clamor to be part of the event.

The platform stage was lined with personalities both local and national. Not everyone was able to speak because of time limitations. Left out of speaking time were comedian Dick Gregory, State rep. Geraldine Thompson, local civil rights attorney Shayan Elahi who is working with the Florida Civil Rights Assoc. and several others. Those who did speak were both passionate and eloquent. The first official speaker was the Rev. Rucker of First Shiloh Baptist Church who called for justice as well as US Rep. for District 3 Corrine Brown. Maria Jones of the Florida legislative Delegation spoke about reversing the Stand Your Ground law. A visibly upset Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett spoke next hesitantly and in a quavering voice. Amid shouts of “Fire the City Manager” he was hardly audible. The crowd grew hostile and booed him off the stage. The next speaker, the Rev. Paul Wright had his speech interrupted by Congresswoman Brown who recalled the mayor to the stage and explained how cooperative he had been and that he did not deserve the poor treatment he received. That did calm things down a bit. The Rev. Valerie Houston offered more prayer. The Rev. Alan Brumbach of the Central Florida Baptist Church offered the final prayer for the evening.

The preliminaries now over, the heavy hitters took the stage. All at once we learned that Al Sharpton’s mother had passed away earlier in the day yet he was determined to be in Sanford to support Trayvon’s parents and see that justice was done. We also learned that Florida Governor Rick Scott just then had replaced Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger with a special prosecutor from Jacksonville, Angela B. Corey. The Corey appointment along with the already known news that Police Chief Lee had stepped down brought roars of approval from the crowd. Attorney Ben Crump who has been diligently pursuing justice for Trayvon spoke first and then introduced Al Sharpton who whipped up the crowd as no other person can. Sharpton immediately took command and didn’t let go. He cautioned the crowd not to get violent because that is “what the other side wants us to do.”  Before introducing Trayvon’s parents he spoke about his mother’s death and why he felt it was necessary to be in Sanford.

Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon’s mother, tears in her eyes thanked everyone for their prayers and support. Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, spoke next and pledged to keep on until justice is served. Sharpton then asked everyone to dig deep and come up with money for the family. Sharpton himself donated $2500.00 and a few big contributors donated more. In all within a space of six minutes over $50,000.00 was raised. Other speakers included radio personality Michal Baisdel, US Congressman US Congressman Al Green and Martin Luther King. Judge Craig Mathis spoke next followed by radio personalities Joe Madison and Mark Thompson

How many (ethnicities deleted) does it take to screw in a light bulb?

During the prayers and speeches I kept evoking images of times past and the speakers kept driving their points home. In no particular order flashing through my mind I saw Billie Holiday’s version of Strange Fruit, the murder in 1955 of Emmet Till, the church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, the murder of Matthew Sheppard, 2007’s “self-defense” shooting of Diego Ortiz and Hernando Torres by Joe Horn, the senseless murder of Sean Bell on his wedding day and scores of other incidents. Hate and bigotry still exist in large quantities; they’ve just taken on the ability to become covert instead of out in the open. Back in the 50’s, and 60’s ethnic jokes (along with knock-knock jokes) were all the rage and no ethnicity was immune including WASPS. Here’s a less offensive example: A Catholic priest was driving along and rear ended a Jewish rabbi (dressed in stereotypical garb). The priest admitted it was his fault, however when the Irish cop arrived at the scene his first question (in brogue of course) was “And how fast was he goin’ when he backed into ya Father?” Sick? You bet. Yet, every ethnicity told these jokes amongst their own groups about all the others and we all laughed because it reinforced our impressions of the “other.” The sickest of these jokes was the punch line spoken by an Alabama sheriff at the murder scene of an African American who had been burnt, stabbed, shot, hung, dipped in acid, then shot again. “In fact, it’s the worst case of suicide I’ve ever seen.”

“You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught”

Oscar Hammerstein II was much more than a Great American Songbook lyricist. He was an extremely liberal social critic who had a very simple and direct way with words, dating back to his collaboration with Jerome Kern in Edna Ferber’s Showboat, one of the greatest scores in musical theater. In his paean to the civil rights struggle, Old Man River, he limns the plight of African Americans and their struggles. The opening line of the song, “Niggers all work on the Mississippi,” was suppressed for years because theater producers felt it was too dangerous. The line was changed to “Here we all work on the Mississippi” until the London production in 1991. The much maligned Paul Robeson, most identified with the song, was not in the original production because of scheduling difficulties. He did open the show in London in 1928 and it ran for 350 performances. In 1936 he recreated the role of Joe in the movie adaptation. Robeson is a case study in bigotry and hate by the establishment and there are several biographies available for you to read about him. Hammerstein didn’t stop there. Somewhere in every show with Richard Rodgers he injected his social criticism. The highlight of his work was the song, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” which spells out in ¾ time exactly how hate and bigotry are passed down from generation to generation.

Within my lifetime I’ve seen lots of changes for the better. Since the Reagan Era I’ve seen lots of efforts to chip away at those changes. It’s no accident that Ronald Reagan chose to give his post 1980 Republican Convention kickoff speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the vicinity where James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were brutally lynched by the KKK and then their bodies hidden. His speech was thinly veiled code using the term States Rights, continuing Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy. Today, with organizations like ALEC actually writing laws that our legislators enact you can bet that the “Shoot First” law, sponsored by ALEC and the NRA weren’t aimed at ‘white folks’. I hope that the Trayvon Martin case starts to unravel this thin veil of racial hatred and official government corruption in Central Florida, not just Sanford and expose it for what it is. I look at the pictures of this beautiful young man and I can’t restrain myself. I have this connection with Tracy and Sybrina and I know their pain, first hand. We buried a beautiful child in 1989 and the pain doesn’t go away. It subsides somewhat and you find the strength to go on, but you’re never the same.

Someday, when Florida legislators wake up and properly fund education and leave education to real educators we might actually find our way out of this miasma.

Back to Reality

My getting out of Ft. Mellon Park proved to be more difficult than getting in. The crowd by that time had swelled to immense proportions. The Seminole Sheriff’s office estimate of 8,000-10,000 was way too low. If you’ve ever been to a pro football or pro baseball game in the northeast you get a feel for the crowds. MSNBC’s estimate of 30,000 is much more accurate. Undoing the tripod and packing up was an ordeal, with people constantly and unintentionally bumping into you. Finally, when I was walking with the crowd it was dark and you couldn’t see the chairs that you tripped over and impeded your progress. Once out of the park, the crowd impelled you to go in its direction. I left the main drag to go onto the side street where I thought I had parked. After about a mile and a half of walking I realized that I was lost. Finally, with the help of a sheriff’s deputy and a Sanford motorcycle cop the car was found. Another mile of walking and I finally reached the car. So, was the experience worth the difficulties? My feet will disagree with me but I’m going to overrule them and say yes.

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Tom, Dick or Harry

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By Jerry Waxman

*(sung to the tune of Tom, Dick or Harry from Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate)

 

Buddy: “ I’ve made a haul for all the Chamber’s rackets, from which rip roaring rich they happen to be.

                       Please help me keep them in the upper brackets, vote for me, vote for me, vote for me.”

Phil  :  The purse strings of Orlando I’m maligning, since Buddy’s math seems fuzzy as you can see.

           So if you want to see our coffers shining, vote for me, vote for me, vote for me.”

Mike:  I make no pretense that I’m a patrician. I see the masking of hizzonor’s debris.

           I’m for the people, yes that’s my position. Vote for me, vote for me, vote for me.”

 

Ken:   “Three decades now I came here from the old sod, to seek my fortune and rewards as could be.

           I give no valid reason why I’m running (yawn), zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”

The song is written for a trio yet there are four candidates who went asking for votes at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at 7:00 PM, each with supposedly very different view on how best to run the city of Orlando. Incumbent Buddy Dyer continued to run on his record of growth and profligate spending on questionable projects. Commissioner Phil Diamond, an accountant and attorney, questioning the Mayor’s mathematics pertaining to the new Amway Arena and how the city needs to be more fiscally responsible. Mike Cantone’s position has been that the people have not benefited from the city’s too close partnerships with big business interests. Ken Mulvaney said that his success in business since he came here from Ireland qualifies him to be mayor.

All four candidates were given a two minute period in which to introduce themselves and their visions for the future of the city. After the customary “Buenos Noches” greetings from each candidate in their best faux Espanol they got down to the business of differentiating themselves from the other. The panel of questioners from the Hispanic press asked what seemed to be softballs at the quartet. The first question was on the new Amway Arena, which Mayor defended. The objections from the other candidates were on the horrendous costs to the average Orlando citizens who cannot afford the hefty parking rates or the concession prices. The only candidate who had a clear alternative was Cantone who said that the facility needs to be open to the public at all times it is not being used for high priced concerts or basketball games. In a later remark Diamond called the Mayor’s claim that the Arena made a profit false. Diamond stated that the Arena lost close to a half million dollars and that the reason the Mayor claimed a profit was because the city threw in almost a million dollars, which comes out of the taxpayers’ pockets.

The next question was about increased crime in the city’s district 2. The standard answer was more police involvement, However, Cantone again separated himself from the field by calling for more community involvement with authorities which has been promised yet has never happened. The third question was on the planned upgrading of the Citrus Bowl. Both Cantone and Diamond were against the measure. Dyer staunchly defended his position and Mulvaney said to make a deal with UCF to use their stadium. Cantone went further than Diamond in his approach to include not scrapping the old Amway Arena and using that section of the city for community involvement rather than trying to establish an unworkable “Creative Village.” The next question came from moderator Jaqui Colon, who drew from today’s headlines about the Trayvon Martin killing.

All of the candidates expressed shock and horror at not only the crime but also the way it was handled. All called for the arrest of George Zimmerman and Dyer explained how Orlando’s Neighborhood Watch members are trained. He also explained that Zimmerman acted counter to every direction that Orlando’s people are given. Cantone went the extra mile. He said that Zimmerman would have been in jail awaiting trial immediately if he had been the mayor. He, in fact on Wednesday, March 14, called Police Chief Lee to request that he have Zimmerman arrested. “When you’re a leader your leadership doesn’t end where city boundaries or city lines might end and the Mayor of Orlando must be the leader of the entire Central Florida region; and we should be the moral pulse of the entire state of Florida.” Cantone went on to say that he had attempted to get in touch with the family.

The next question was about mass transportation in Orlando. Everyone agreed that the Lynx System is inadequate and that further study is required. The next question dealt with how the city hires employees. The Latino population is roughly 25% of the population yet there are few discernible hires in higher offices in the city. Dyer and Diamond said they went out of their way to encourage hiring of ethnic minorities including Latinos and Hispanics. Cantone again promised to utilize a diverse population in the city’s hiring practices saying that the more people that were hired the more the community would become engaged in the political process. The last question was how the panel felt about the Dream Act. All four agreed that the legislation should be passed. No argument there. Here are the debate videos from the beginning to the end.

That’s it. It was over. There was food and drink and time for socializing and everyone had a good time. The candidates as a whole presented very well, however Mulvaney looked bored with the whole thing and Dyer was a little less cocky yet no more convincing than he had been in previous debates. Diamond did a respectable job, yet his positions were too close to Cantone’s without any of the passion and fire that goes along with Cantone, who was clearly the winner. At moments during the evening the audience just exploded with applause at Cantone’s statements. Cantone is clearly the alternative to Dyer. Dyer may be too well known to lose this election term but Cantone has made his mark and the mayor knows it. Michael Cantone will be an important voice in Central Florida for many years to come.

“We will vote April third, but won’t take double quick any Tom Dick or Harry…………”

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Occupy Orlando-Ex Post Facto Cowardice

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By Jerry Waxman

“The moon was all aglow, and heaven was in your eyes, the night that you told me those little white lies…”

 Cowardice comes in all different forms and shapes. Everyone is or has been guilty of it in one form or another and at one time or another. Every time you tell a little white lie that is technically cowardice. Every time you act in your own self interest at the expense of others that is cowardice. Every time a public official tries to rig the legal system to their advantage instead of facing the public on their merits that is a supreme act of cowardice. Denial of or refusal to take responsibility is an act of cowardice.

 

There’s been an awful lot of official cowardice going on in Central Florida these last few years and recently, in the last few months there are several textbook examples to study. The way the city has handled Occupy Orlando is a classic study in how not to handle dissent. Heavy handed force may give the city some temporary gain but in the end Occupy will succeed. Why? At some point the voters of Orlando will wake up and see that the king not only doesn’t have new clothes on but the Potemkin village he touts is losing its façade. Instead of shattering Occupy the city has scattered it, much like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The French learned that the hard way in Algiers back in the 50’s. The city is spending an awful lot of money trying to prosecute otherwise honest and responsible (registered voter) citizens for meaningless infractions that the State Attorney would have no part of. The city is also now a defendant in Federal Court where it has successfully shopped for another judge to hear the case rather than argue the case on its merits. The case in question is about Tim Osmar who was arrested for the heinous crime of using chalk on the sidewalks, an act that two years before Mayor Buddy Dyer encouraged local merchants to do. Tim was held without bail for several weeks until the State Attorney’s office realized that it was an absurd case and had him released. Then the State Attorney refused to prosecute the other Occupiers on their individual trespassing charges. So, what did the city do? It drew up into its thick tortoise shell and in its incredible myopia filed new city charges against them. This is a true ex post facto act of cowardice that will continue to cost the taxpayers their money and the city its credibility. The federal suit has escalated to the point that outside attorneys have been retained at untold thousands of dollars in order to shore up the façade. City Prosecutor Mayanne Downs successfully blackmailed Judge Presnell into recusing himself from the case by threatening to hire members of his own law firm, Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson to defend the city. Ex post facto cowardice? You Betcha!

 

Two weeks ago Mayor Dyer’s Potemkin village centerfold, the new Amway Arena, was the host facility for that magical event (no pun intended) called the NBA All Star Game. During this three day event all eyes of the sports world were on Central Florida for both the game itself and the annual Daytona 500 forty miles away. During this weekend Occupy Orlando along with other civic minded organizations was busy implementing All Share Weekend which brought the homeless problem in Orlando to the forefront. Occupiers couldn’t have cared less about the main events although several people in the movement are die hard basketball fans. Linsanity had no place here. The Arena was so blocked off from the public that traffic had to be rerouted, and the wall that was constructed completely blocked off any view of the western communities. It’s probably a good thing too, because NBC might not have been so complimentary if they had seen it. It certainly was a good weekend for people who had homes and condos to rent out at several thousand dollars. It certainly was a good weekend for the merchants inside the Arena and it was a terrific weekend for the bars. No one in Parramore, however, is laughing on the way to the bank. The average citizen didn’t see any uptick in his fortunes and the NBA, thanks to the city’s submissive personality to special interests, had a ball trampling peoples’ rights.

Scalper selling $300.00 Saturday tickets for $350.00

Saturday afternoon Feb. 25 the occupiers protested at the Arena and were herded into a small cordoned off area on the northeast side. Security and police kept them tightly confined while allowing scalpers to openly do business with the public in the larger open areas. The scalper in the picture above threatened me with bodily harm if I took his picture. I interviewed one scalper who had courtside tickets for Sunday’s game in a contest. He was selling off the other ticket for $8000.00. Here’s the video of that interview.

 

On Sunday Feb 25 the focus shifted to the old Amway Arena which was built less than twenty years ago and is not completely paid off yet. The Occupiers held their All Share Weekend just off the parking lot. All Share fed for free anyone who happened into the area. There was also a lot of free merchandise that anyone could take. Another facet of All Share weekend was to bring to light the horrible conditions and deplorable maintenance of the area.

Structural leak at a fountain in Centroplex, probably about 100 gallons per hour.

 

The Centroplex area of the city used to be a vital part of the downtown. Today the area has little left to recommend it. The old arena is scheduled to be imploded at a cost to taxpayers of $3,000,000. It is supposed to be used as a homeless shelter by state law on nights when it is not in use (as is the new arena) but don’t hold your breath. It hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t. The city has completely neglected the area as the above photograph shows. The Mayor’s vision of a “Creative Village” in the area doesn’t pass the logical thinking test for high tech businesses to move into the area that has no major league cultural institutions and few good schools with a state continually cutting budgets for needed infrastructure in the area. The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is only in stage one and most probably will not ever be completed as planned, at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars plus estimated operating deficits of $18,000,000.00 or more. All of this downtown spending is strictly a way of keeping developers happy with no payoff to the average citizen. The logical place for a future creative village is in East Orlando out near UCF and Lake Nona. The old arena lies there waiting for its ultimate fate. To not consider the residents west of the city and to completely abandon the Centroplex area instead of making it part of the community infrastructure is also an act of cowardice.

 

Mayor Dyer found that out the hard way on Feb 27 at the monthly Orange County DEC meeting. Expecting to be received warmly, he and his entourage of young campaign workers got a lesson in what pissed off Democrats think of him. The look on the faces of his youthful entourage was straight out of the audience shock scene in the movie, “The Producers.” His arrogant attitude also turned many people off. The other two Democratic candidates, Commissioner Phil Diamond and activist Michael Cantone were much more thorough in their assessments of the city and their plans for its future. They also answered questions in an honest and forthright manner. Dyer received no applause whatsoever. Diamond got polite applause and Cantone brought the house down. A new progressive star was born that evening.

Master Legend & Capt. Kirk at OCAB 10:00 PM 3/5/12

During that week Occupy Orlando found out that there were no restrictions to their occupation of the Orange County Administration Building at Rosalind and Jackson Streets, so all of a sudden the entrance to the building became a campground with several tents and people occupying 24 hours every day. Things seemed to go swimmingly until it was learned that there was a secret meeting taking place between commissioners and Orlando prosecutors to place an agenda item on Tuesday’s commission meeting to give the occupiers the same treatment that Orlando had. Occupier Amanda More was threatened with Trespass if she did not leave the building immediately. County Mayor Teresa Jacobs invited the occupiers to come to the commission meeting on Tuesday to tell their story, which sounded good but it was more like inviting Christians into the Coliseum to deal with the lions. Yes, the occupiers were given lots of time to speak, but the commission’s minds were made up 7 to 0 against the occupiers. The commission put into place ex post facto restrictions of time limits and areas to occupy on the other side of the building. No tents were allowed and other restrictions similar to Orlando’s. They were also given time to effect the move. As of Friday morning 3/09 they have not yet been evicted. Still, the Mayor and Commission could have met with representatives of Occupy and worked out a better deal than that. All they are doing is pissing people off in an election year and most of the occupiers are not only registered voters but are willing to work on election campaigns against them.

 

Mayor Jacobs has shown to be cowardly at least twice since her election. First, by not standing up to Governor Scott when he removed interim Commissioner Damiani for no logical but every political reason, and second when she advanced the business tax break measure on the ballot during the Republican Presidential Primary election. Since Democrats had no primary most of them stayed home even though the tax measure affects all county residents.  At the March 3 bipartisan County Watch meeting guest speaker Bill Donegan, county tax assessor, explained the measure in detail and the measure actually made a lot of sense. It could have withstood scrutiny and there were enough dollar limits and safeguards built into it that I would have felt comfortable voting for it. It’s a shame that our county officials don’t trust us to make proper decisions, and that’s a true act of cowardice.

 

Last, but certainly not least, are the tacit supporters of Occupy Orlando themselves. Occupy Orlando’s Facebook page lists 1172 members and yet the central core of occupiers never sees them. They probably joined during the big marches in October and November and some of them may post from time to time, but they don’t show up, nor do they participate. Maybe they are afraid of perceived bad publicity. Maybe they are afraid of being arrested. Maybe they are ashamed to have their names out in public for fear of losing their jobs. Well, here’s a message for them. If 1172 people were at OCAB on Tuesday don’t you think the commission might have been more accommodating? If 1172 people had been at Senator Beth Johnson Park on regular days the city would have noticed big time and accommodations would have been made. If 1172 people were crowding into commission and committee meetings you can bet that things would be different. If 1172 people were actively campaigning against incumbents up for re-election you can bet that attitudes would be different. Awake the State last year, prior to any of the occupations proved that numbers and action influence lawmakers. The concentrated actions in Tallahassee this legislative session proved very helpful in defeating or altering some (not all) very restrictive legislation. It’s possible that by today’s end the “Parent Trigger” bill could go down in flames. That’s only possible by united action and it takes courage to stand your ground. If you don’t exercise your first amendment rights you could lose them, so it’s time for 1072 ostriches to take their heads out of the sand and get active. That can change the politics of the region for the better.

 

But that dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard………..

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