By Jerry Waxman

Experiment.
Make it your motto day and night.
Experiment and it will lead you to the light.
The apple on the top of the tree is never too high to achieve,
So take an example from Eve, experiment.

A song by Cole Porter©

Chemistry lesson question: What happens when two or more distinctly different elements are placed together under the right conditions?  Answer: Something else (a chemical reaction) emerges. Example: Water, which is the combination of two molecules of Hydrogen and one molecule of Oxygen. What’s happening at Occupy Orlando and in New York and everywhere else is an ongoing experiment in chemical and physical dynamics. There are no rules or guidelines other than what the General Assembly (GA) establishes by consensus vote. They have the benefit of 200 years of constitutional law, Robert’s Rules of Order, history of the Civil Rights movement, and instant communications with other GAs across the planet. They learn from each other and contribute to each other. Experiments rarely work properly the first time, so Occupy Orlando, as well as all the others, is a work in progress.

Call:  MIKE CHECK!   Response:  MIKE CHECK!   Message from Speaker repeated by crowd: It is now 10 O’clock. The solidarity march will start in one hour!  The occupation participants must leave Senator Beth Johnson Park at 11:00 PM, the official closing time, but that’s not going to stop the demonstrations. The parade will march and the assembled will find other places to sleep and freshen up. Those who don’t want to sleep will stay on the sidewalks conducting business. The Orlando Police Department has been very cooperative and the GA will not do anything to antagonize them because progress is slowly being made. Earlier at 7:00 the GA met and adopted a list of proposals, all of which must be passes by consensus. Some passed and some did not and were tabled for future discussion.  Since it was raining the meeting was held under the overhanging cover of the Chamber of Commerce building. To a casual observer it might have looked chaotic yet it was anything but that. This was the chemical experiment in process. This experiment had some very positive results and they will continue on for other experiments. Sheena Rolle of Organize Now explained “Putting so many diverse people together, most of whom have never met before two weeks ago and achieving reachable goals is a wonder in itself. This is a period where people, who have left their comfort zones, are learning how to work cooperatively, making new friendships, sizing each other up, learning that even though there is still a common purpose not everyone agrees on everything.” There is a chemical reaction happening and the results will eventually produce a synergy that has not been achieved before. People are learning the Democratic process step by painful step

“Yessir, I’m going to stay with the youngsters. When these get too old I’m going to get some younger ones…..keeps the mind active!”

Immortal jazz drummer Art Blakey was commenting on his first Jazz Messengers group in 1951. The group included future immortals Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Lou Donaldson and Curley Russell, who were all in their early 20’s. Blakey was 32. Blakey was right. This movement, which includes all social strata, religions, income brackets and age categories, is still basically youth driven. They are the ones with the social media technical ability. The Media team tarp….er, I mean tent is a wonder. The team exhibits ingenuity that’s remarkable. They have a secret power source that’s fueling a half dozen laptops doing PR, Facebook updates, press releases and live streaming. As of yesterday they had seventeen legitimate news crews covering the occupation. The live stream went out to over 1700 people prior to 11:00. Like Blakey, I find their energy a wonder and it certainly keeps me occupied. We more mature folks are also an important part of the equation. We have acquired experiences and wisdom that are invaluable to these “kids” and we need to be there to guide them and mentor them.

Former Orange County Democratic Party Chairman, Doug Head, delivered a lecture on how to occupy a city or county commission meeting or how to attend an appointed board meeting and get their voices heard and how to demand transparency.  Head should know; he’s been involved in the political process for a long time and at present he’s fighting for fair redistricting in the county, which affects every voter. There will be future speakers to advise on the political process, voter registration, working campaigns and getting involved, not merely protesting. One thing is for sure- when the old heads are gone there will be a smart, capable and future generation of activists to replace us.

At 9:00 PM the media station was a hotbed of activity. Live streaming, twittering, messaging and video editing. Dennis Maclaren was finishing a video he shot yesterday of Right Wing Tea Party operative Tom Trento. Trento had been caught in several lies when he was interviewed by a local TV station with MacLaren recording the whole interview. Trento had been caught previously sending in an agent provocateur red herring to cause trouble. He was put up at the Doubletree Hotel across the street and was found out by the Peace Keeping team. Between the team and the Orlando Police that was the end of that.

The cohesion is working. It’s not perfect yet and will likely continue to have its rough edges for a while, but in the end Occupy Orlando will bring people together, not split them apart

Wherever we go, whatever we do

We’re gonna go through it together

We may not go far, but sure as a star,

Wherever we are, it’s together.

Together, Wherever We Go©

A song from “Gypsy” by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim

By Jerry Waxman

Day 2 according all reports went rather smoothly. There were a lot less people and that was to be expected. Day 3 brought some added people throughout the day and some changes started to take place. The police were considering where people could camp out although no decisions were made to allow occupation after 11:00 PM. There was a food station set up, a medical station and a media station under a tarpaulin makeshift tent. When I arrived at 6:15 PM there were well over a hundred people there. Using the New York tradition there was a call for “Mike Check” to which the crowd responded “Mike Check”. This is the way announcements are made. This announcement was that dinner was being served.

There was some activity with a video crew interviewing participants. Upon further inspection it turned out to be Tom Trento, a vicious, bigoted, tea party type hate monger, and friends. Trento, director of an organization called the Florida Security Council, writing in the blog of the The United West attempted to expose the movement as being organized and taken over by Muslim jihadists. Why? One attorney in the 12 member legal team with the National Lawyers Guild happens to be a Pakistani born naturalized American citizen, Shayan Elahi.  Two years ago Elahi was retained by the father of Rifqa Bary and was successful in convincing the judge to return Rifqa back to Ohio. Anti-Muslim haters like Pam Geller and Trento have never forgiven him for taking their poster child away and have hounded after him ever since with the most outrageous accusations and trumped stories imaginable, and none of them either accurate or provable. All of it is either hate mongering or guilt by association and none of it is worth any reader’s time.

I have to admit dear reader that I have a personal stake in this. Two years ago Shayan and I met through a mutual friend and we’ve been close friends and associates ever since. I ran his 2010 campaign for circuit court judge against a Tea Party backed candidate. It turns out that Shayan and my daughter, Nancy, are both 1995 graduates of UCF and knew each other casually back them. His law degree is from Yeshiva University and no one you’ll ever meet has more integrity. He has an absolute respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and legal ethics; so, when a lowlife creep like Tom Trento attacks him I’m the first guy to come to his defense. I made my presence known to Trento and his crew and in the most diplomatic way possible told them that (verbatim) “everything they reported was a complete falsehood and that they were the scum of the earth”  to which they replied “Thank you.” They were wise enough not to cause more of a scene than was already happening.  I’m going back later today and I’m going to recommend to the GA ways of containing them. It’s a public park so we can’t restrict them, however, we may be able to greatly reduce their impact.

The occupiers asked if I could help spread the word on stuff they need, so here’s a partial list:

The food people need ready to serve vegetarian stuff. They specifically asked for tofu. Fruit would also be nice. They are not allowed to prepare anything so it has to be ready to eat. Utensils like plastic forks, ladles, tongs and lots of paper goods-plates, napkins, cups.

The peace keepers need 2-way communications. The inexpensive Cobra walkie talkies would be ideal.

The medical team needs whatever first aid supplies you can give.

They also need your support. Take some time off from whatever you are doing and come out to support the 99%

By Jerry Waxman

l saw the seaman standing
Idly by the shore
l heard the bosses saying
Got no work for you no more

But the banks are made of marble
With a guard at every door
And the vaults are stuffed with silver
That the seaman sweated for

A Song by Les Rice ©Stormking Music 1950

The song made popular by Pete Seeger sixty years ago is still relevant with one important added detail. It’s not just the seamen and farmers anymore. Most people today don’t remember the economic period of adjustment immediately following World War II, even though it ushered in the greatest period of American growth and prosperity in the history of the world. All but forgotten were the returning servicemen who had difficulty getting back to work until the government decided to do something about it. If one had special skills like Ted Williams or Clark Gable or Jimmy Stewart the transition was easy; for others it was a frustrating time. A shining example of this was the movie “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Frederick March’s character had been a banker, was immediately promoted and promptly welcomed back into the fold, while the character played by Dana Andrews, an Air Corps commissioned officer, couldn’t even hold down the most menial of jobs. Swift government action in the Truman Administration resulted in the GI Bill as well as The Marshall Plan helped immensely. American industries eventually went back to making consumer products and the construction industry started building suburbia. Once America decided to concentrate on economic recovery the results came rather quickly.

The economic engine that powered the country during those days was created by the New Deal. Legislation coming out of Congress included the landmark Glass-Steagall Act, which limited the power of banks to deal in questionable securities. The reforms of the New Deal enabled the country to prosper and grow through the Carter Administration. Once Ronald Reagan was inaugurated it marked the beginning of the end for most of the New Deal’s reforms. It has been a slow and steady degeneration that most people were oblivious to while it was happening, but after thirty years the differences are glaring. Anyone under the age of forty has no understanding of how well the country worked prior to the Reagan Administration and they never will under our current public school policies.

Corporate America in the meantime started in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s merging into conglomerates with names like LTV, Litton, ITT, Gulf and Western, and many others. These giants effectively became holding companies for wholly unrelated industries that each contributed to the bottom line. As these companies grew they started buying up the competition which resulted in job losses, however, the economy was also expanding at a furious pace so other job openings were available. Foreign competition was virtually nonexistent except for a few automobiles from Europe and Japan. Foreign manufacturers were busy helping to rebuild the economies of their own countries up through the 1970’s. As long as our population kept increasing these products could be easily absorbed. Again, it was a slow period of recognition before we saw that there were no more small merchants selling groceries or hardware or office supplies, children’s clothes, automobiles, appliances. No more corner market, drug store, book store, etc. They had all been put out of business by the big box stores, which also resulted in job losses. Employees eventually found other work because the economy was strong. The same happened in the banking industry. Laws such as the Riegle-Neale Act of 1994 allowed banks to expand beyond their state borders to become national giants so today people have a lot less choices on where to bank than did before. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, signed in 1999 by President Clinton and totally embraced by the Bush 43 Administration, erased all of the restrictions from Glass-Steagall thereby allowing banks to deal in market securities and other questionable high risk ventures. This was also a slow process that day by day was largely overlooked by most average citizens. Let’s just imagine we are Rip Van Winkle, having been asleep for thirty years instead of twenty, waking up to find a society that we don’t recognize and finding out that not only is our spouse dead, but we are also perilously close to the same. That thirty year old white beard we’ve grown represents our collective indifference and apathy to the politicians and corporate scheming that we’ve allowed to happen.  Herman Cain is right on one point-we did this to ourselves and we allowed people like him to take advantage of us.

People are now starting to wake up from this thirty year stupor and attempting to shave off that monstrosity of a beard. The most visible of the occupy movements is still happening in New York because that’s where Wall Street and many corporate headquarters are, but the movement has grown to hundreds of cities and towns throughout the nation and it will continue to grow as people keep rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. It’s only a matter of time before the media reports it accurately and it will happen as the movement grows and it becomes too big to be either ignored or denied.

Don’t try to pigeonhole or typecast the 1500+ participants in the Occupy Orlando movement held at Senator Beth Johnson Park on Saturday, Oct. 15, and continuing on throughout the evening until 11:00 PM. The demonstration will continue as soon as the park opens Sunday. They come from all walks of life and all levels of society. There was all manner of dress, educational levels, occupations, ethnicities and ages from the very young to senior citizens who are fed up with the way government has failed to rein in the excesses of both the big banks and big business corporate greed. This is not just a problem for the federal government but also state and local governments whose actions have definitely affected the well-being of its residents. The parade route went around Orlando’s City Hall. Local governments are just as seduced and corrupted by corporate greed as the feds are. They call themselves the ninety nine per centers because it seems that the politicians worship at the feet of the one per cent that control the money, forgetting that their government paychecks come from everyone’s hard earned tax dollars.

Occupation Orlando started at 8:00 AM. Few actual participants were there, however the movement’s teams and staffs were there planning and getting ready. They set up live streaming cameras and had microphones and speakers ready to go. The biggest problem was toilet facilities. The park is a city run facility and the tenant on the property, The Orlando Chamber of Commerce (a public building) made no provision to allow access to its facilities which it is supposed to do. Lots of people were carrying empty coffee or soda cups just for such an emergency. There were also nine color coded member teams in place to handle any possible situation:  Green Team for materials, Blue Team for the March, White Team for peace keeping (there were a few very well handled incidents), Orange team for updates and fact checking, Red Team for first aid, Black Team for media, and media outreach, Brown Team for food, Yellow Team for legal observation and help and Violet Team for transportation issues. The Orlando Police were on hand and to their credit were very helpful, especially during the parade segment. Early on the brilliant writer and comedienne, Lizz Winstead showed up to lend her support. Winstead was in town to perform in a fund raising show, yet felt it was important to show her support. It was early in the morning when I interviewed her and she wasn’t funny, but she was poignant.  Here’s the video.

The crowd continued to grow during the day. Meanwhile, anyone who wanted to publicly speak was offered the opportunity and close to two hundred people during the day spoke. Some spoke about their personal experiences, some about how they’ve been affected during this crisis and some who just voiced their dissatisfaction.  A few candidates for office spoke including two candidates for Mayor of Orlando, Linda Grund and Michael Cantone, both citing the immediate need for reform from the corporate way the city does business. Eventually the crowd equaled at least 1500 people and there were estimates of close to three thousand, but the police during the parade stopped counting after 1500. The parade was at least a half mile long by their estimates and wound around the city hall and then back to the park.

At the conclusion of the parade the microphone again opened up. Vince Taylor, a small business owner dealing in solar energy, acted as the emcee and whipped up the crowdinto a near frenzy with a highly emotional speech. The Keynote speech came shortly afterward from former congressman Alan Grayson. Grayson, a wealthy man and the son of public school teachers, has never forgotten his middle class roots. He is solidly in the camp of the 99%. Here he quotes extensively from Naomi Klein’s book, “The Shock Doctrine,” which describes how both government and big business take advantage of us. Grayson has been known to be both vociferous and bombastic in the past, however, recently both on TV and in his personal appearances he seems to have achieved a maturity and an erudite air when he speaks that was not apparent before. On Bill Maher’s show recently he kept his calm and then slowly and steadily in an economic and surgical way removed P. J. O’Rourke’s mojo and reduced him to a blob of protoplasm. He shows that same discipline here.

After Grayson’s speech the crowd slowly started to depart but significant numbers remained and groups of strangers started to discuss the events of the day and whether or not they would continue to participate. Later in the day the General Assembly met to plan what will be done next. Further information can be found at their website: http://www.occupyorlando.org and on their Facebook page: Occupy Orlando.

I’ve seen my brothers working
Throughout this mighty land
l prayed we’d get together
And together make a stand

Then we’d own those banks of marble
With a guard at every door
And we’d share those vaults of silver
That we have sweated for

by Jerry Waxman

“Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute*

Please, Mr. Postman, deliver the letter, the sooner the better”

It is June 1969. Mario Jimenez has taken the job of Postman in the village of Isla Negra, an island off the coast of Chile. There is only one resident who knows how to read; the rest of the villagers are illiterate. The literate man was living on the island in exile and received mail from around the world. His name was Pablo Neruda, the world famous Nobel Prize winning poet and diplomat.  Even when living in an isolated place the Chilean government felt it was necessary to insure that the mail went through. This particular scenario is a fiction written in 1985 by Antonio Skarmeta, published under the title Burning Patience, later made into the movie, Il Postino. Neruda died in 1973, less a victim of the Pinochet takeover than his own bad health.

Creating the postal system in the colonies was a major accomplishment of Benjamin Franklin and William Hunter. The models of distribution they created in the mid eighteenth century still hold up after 250 years. What Franklin and Hunter did was to make the postal service a more desirable and faster way for people to send and receive mail.  We as a society have come to expect prompt and efficient delivery of our mail. Yes, we pay for these services, and yes the costs keep going up. If we had to depend on private carriers or freight delivery companies we would be paying much more and getting less, especially if the profit motive determined that certain zip codes can’t be serviced every day. This is nothing new. Even in colonial times there were private carriers who delivered both mail and packages. As our country expanded unlimited opportunities, aided by new technologies, opened up for them.

“O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a comin’ down the street….”**

The history of Wells Fargo is a fascinating read. Both Wells and Fargo were visionaries, who, perhaps by accident, were the prime movers behind American Express. They broke away from AE (yet still remained on the Board of Directors) to operate an express line in the West due to the California Gold Rush and westward expansion as early as 1857. They provided express and passenger delivery between Missouri and San Francisco and points in between. The trip usually took about 25 days. They also were a prime source of delivering the mail under government contracts. In 1860 the Pony Express, a startup company owned by other men in the express business, delivered mail between Joplin, Missouri and California in 10 days. The Pony express lasted only 18 months yet it is the stuff of legends. It did prove that fast delivery was possible. Had the Pony Express lasted longer it might have garnered government contracts, however, as a private carrier it set its own rates at $5.00 per half ounce. Even figuring at today’s rates that’s a pretty dear price to pay. The enterprise was absorbed into Wells Fargo in October 1861, as the Transcontinental Telegraph eliminated a lot of their messaging business. Eventually the Transcontinental Railroad would have put them out of business had they survived. The Pony Express was top heavy with overhead costs including 184 stations, 500 horses and several hundred employees including 120 riders. It never made the money to cover its operating expenses. The telegraph companies and the railroads only needed a fraction of that plus they didn’t have to feed and house the horses. The United States Post Office, using the technology and resources of the time continued to serve its public through the use of its own assets and the cooperation of private contractors when necessary.

“I telegraphed and phoned, sent an Air Mail Special too…”***

With modern innovations such as the automobile and the airplane The Post office continued to take advantage of the technology available to it and an ever increasing population. The massive immigration from Europe and elsewhere demanded that the public be served as well as before. Air Mail pilots made fast delivery possible between both coasts, much faster than train service; the most famous of these pilots being Charles Lindbergh set a new standard for both flying and America’s sense of adventure. The Post Office continued to expand and modernize with the times, and so did its budgets. The cost of a first class stamp in the 1950’s was three cents. Air Mail stamps cost more but speeded up delivery. The addition of zip codes in the early 1960’s made deliver much more efficient, and with air travel becoming more affordable to the public the need for Air Mail was greatly reduced. Considering the economy’s expansion over the last 60 years today’s first class rate of 44 cents could be considered a fair price.

Private carriers of parcels still flourished. In 1907, what was to eventually become UPS started as a messenger service later to become a merchant’s parcel delivery service. The success of UPS is well known and helped give birth to Federal Express and other international delivery services. Even with the increased competition from other carriers, internet sales, on-line bill paying and e-mail the post office has enjoyed increased sales and net operating revenues of more than $600,000,000.00 over the last four years.

“Your answer was goodbye-there was even postage due”***

So, why do we hear that the Post Office is broke and losing over five billion dollars a year, and why has congress been proceeding at a snail’s pace to correct the situation? The answer is simple-it is Congress’s fault in the first place. In 2006 a lame duck republican congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), P.L. 109-435. You can read all about it here. The legislation required the Post Office to prefund 75 years worth of retirement and health benefits over a period of ten years. This is an astounding situation. No government agency, for that matter no private company has ever been required to prefund retirement and health benefits, especially for those people who haven’t been born yet. It has placed undue burdens on an essential service to the tune of over five billion dollars a year, which is about the amount of money that the Postal Service is losing. No other business or government entity has any pre-funding requirement at all. Imagine if Congress tried to do that with members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Further exacerbating the situation is the fact that the USPS has billions of dollars worth of its own revenues sitting in a reserve account that Congress must authorize before it can be accessed. Congress’s actions (or non-actions as the case may be) seem to be in trying to eliminate the Post Office altogether. Even the Obama administration has proposed the end to Saturday deliveries, a sure way to eliminate lots of jobs when adding or keeping jobs is of primary importance. It’s a sure thing that no one in the Obama administration is waiting for that check to arrive on Saturday so it can be cashed on Monday morning, or that Sunday birthday present that won’t arrive until Monday. The sheer volume of Monday delivery will cause some havoc usually associated with holiday closings every week with less staff to handle the mail.

It’s no wonder postal workers are up in arms. They don’t see themselves as part of the problem. They do their job, just like firefighters, police, teachers and anyone else who works for large government or private organizations. They have no say in policy, planning, design or strategic decisions. They just do what they are told, yet they are first to be sacrificed due to bad decisions made by either Congress or Post Office and Administration management.  The facts are quite simple- according to the APWU the Post Office doesn’t cost the taxpayers any money at all. All revenues are generated through sales of products and services. There are billions of dollars in excess revenues in reserve accounts waiting for Congress to act. All APWU claims can be verified at www.SaveAmericasPostalService.org.

“From Natchez to Mobile, From Memphis to St. Joe….”****

Tuesday, September 27 was designated as a Day of Action for Saving America’s Postal Service by postal employees themselves. The goal was to have rallies in every congressional district throughout the country to explain to both Congress and the American public about the true financial situation the USPS faces and how it can easily be remedied. There is current legislation in the House of Representatives (HB 1351) which allows the Postal Service to apply excess retire payments to satisfy its financial obligations. There were at least 450 actions planned according Central Florida APWU Legislative Director Victor Sanchez. In Central Florida alone there were actions at Rep. John Mica’s (R. Dist. 7) Maitland and Ormond Beach offices, Rep. Sandy Adams (R. Dist. 24) Oviedo and Orange City offices and Dan Webster’s (R. Dist. 8) Winter Garden and Tavares offices. The rallies were scheduled for 4:00 PM and crowds started to assemble. Postal workers and their allies in other unions as well as activist members of the public chanted and waved signs at passing traffic. APWU Legislative Director

Victor Sanchez spoke briefly about the purpose of the rally. The crowd eventually grew to about 75 people including several retirees like Joe Romeu, who supported the actions. Several TV stations were in attendance as well as a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel. At 4:45, Sanchez led a delegation of union representatives into Mica’s office to present him with over 300 petitions to save the Postal Service and co-sponsor HB 1351. The delegation included: Denise Diaz of Central Florida Jobs with Justice, David Sanchez and Gonzalo Capristan of Working America, Lariza Garzon of National Farm Worker Ministries and Mark Wachowiak of Organize Now. Here’s the video of the meeting. Mica’s staff people were pleasant and hospitable and assured the delegation that their concerns and the petitions would be passed on to him. The Maitland rally ended around 5:15 and all concerned considered it a success. Favorable reports from other actions in Brevard and Polk Counties started to come in, so now it is in Congress’s hands to do the right thing. You, the public can help by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking your representative to support HB1351. Instead of e-mailing your representative, actually invest 44 cents and write to your representative at the US House of Representatives, Washington D.D. 20515

“So many days you passed me by*
See the tears standin’ in my eyes
You didn’t stop to make me feel better
By leavin’ me a card or a letter”

*   Exerpts from Please Mr. Postman         by Garrett,William/Dobbins, Georgia/Holland,Brian

**   Exerpt from The Wells Fargo Wagon      by Meredith Willson

***   Exerpts from Everything Happens to me   by Matt Dennis/Tom Adair

**** Exerpt from Blues in the Night                 by Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer

By Jerry Waxman

It was a hastily cobbled together series of rallies on May 10, throughout the state of Florida in opposition to Governor Rick Scott’s and the veto-proof Legislature’s Machiavellian budget cuts that will adversely affect education, health care, the environment and much needed social programs. Awake the State reported that there were 23 rallies being held in different communities throughout the state, however numbers of attendees were not forthcoming. Individual counties like Volusia and Palm Beach reported that their rallies were great. Orlando’s rally was again held at the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce and although the crowds were fewer they were no less enthusiastic than the original rally held on March 8. The difference being that they had six weeks to prepare for the March rally. That difference notwithstanding, the Orlando event attracted some very compelling speakers: state legislators Scott Randolph and Darren Soto, Sue Idtensohn, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Orlando, Linda Kobert, founding partner of Fund Education Now, Ann Hellmuth, President of League of Women Voters Orange County and Tamecka Pierce, President of Organize Now.

Organizers of the event were groups such as Organize Now, Florida New Majority, Working America, members of SEIU and AFSCME. Stephanie Porta, Executive Director of Organize Now said in an interview “Never has Florida’s middle class been more under siege than we were during the 2011 legislative session. Politicians waged a war against Florida voters but they are learning we’ll fight back to protect our communities, our families, our schools and our rights as voters. We’re here to stay, we know what you did last session and we’re not going to take it!” Porta added “Average Floridians are fed up with lawmakers balancing the budget on the backs of hard working Floridians. Our families simply cannot afford the attacks on the middle class in order for politicians to carry water for the big business lobby, namely the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Our legislators are going to continue to hear about it from Florida voters, so get ready to for a long, hot summer of accountability.”

Sheena Rolle of AFSCME hosted the event introducing State Representative Scott Randolph of house district 38. Randolph recently made national headlines by referring to incorporating his wife’s uterus on the Florida House’s floor during one of the several heated debates over abortion legislation. Randolph opened his speech“For the last four months the legislature has been attacking you” going on to explain that that the legislature is entirely under the control of Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce. He also pointed out that the governor and majority legislative leadership were “disappointed” that they were not able to stop the $2.40 raise in Florida’s minimum wage.  He concluded that “They will be back next year to attack you. Let’s not let that happen!”

Rolle next introduced Rep. Darren Soto of Florida’s State House District 49. Soto confirmed what Randolph had said previously and added that the session was not without some minority legislative victories, citing that not all of the abortion bills were passed, and that insurance reform was not passed. Also, the Arizona style immigration law was stopped as well as the attack on Bright Futures. Soto reminded the crowd that these issues will come up again next session. He also expressed his hope the 2012 elections will be the turning point to winning back the state.

The next speaker was Sue Idtentsohn, current CEO of Planned Parenthood Orlando. Idtentsohn had previously been appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles as the State of Florida’s Division Director of International Trade and Economic Development. She also had spent many years in Asia serving as manager of the Management Development Institute of Singapore. “I am here to talk and represent all the women in Florida that got screwed in the state legislature.” She explained that Florida leads the nation in anti-choice legislation. There were eighteen bills up for voting that restrict women’s rights and all but five were defeated. She warned that the next legislative session will be just as bad as the recently finished one and that now more than ever the people need to organize against this.

Linda Kobert, founding partner of Fund Education Now.org, a grassroots organization for parents and other interested people to advocate for Florida’s children and for Florida’s public schools, spoke on behalf of the further funding cuts that Florida will be suffering. She cited possible teacher layoffs in Orange County, talk of a four day school week in Lake County and the possible closing of Longwood Elementary, a 50 year old “A” school in Seminole County. She attacked the merit pay bill as an unfunded mandate. “Who runs a business like that?” she asked. She also spoke out against the FCAT testing saying that high stakes testing benefits no one except the owners of testing companies.  She also said that if we want a decent economy that we should invest in the kind of world class education that will attract industries of the future to the state. Fund Education Now.org is a plaintiff in a current lawsuit that claims that the Florida legislature has not fulfilled its constitutional duty to fully fund public education as stated in Article IX, section 1 of the Florida Constitution.

Ann Hellmuth is currently President of the League of Women Voters in Orange County. She enjoyed a 50 plus year career as a journalist covering all manner of events. She was the first woman in the history of the Associated Press to be head of a statewide news gathering operation. Her career took her to the Orlando Sentinel where she retired in 2006 as Deputy Managing Editor. Hellmuth explained that the League of Women Voters is non-partisan and since its founding in 1921 one of its prime functions is to register people to vote. Current legislation, when signed into law will prevent the League from participating in that activity. She called upon the assembled to sign the petition urging the governor not to sign the bill.

Tamecka Pierce, president of Organize Now explained how medically needy programs saved her life. She suffers from Lupus and chronic Kidney disease and at the time was unemployed when her kidneys failed. “Had it not been for Medicaid and the Medically Needy Program I would be dead today” said Pierce. She said that these quality of life issued are important to low income Floridians and seniors.

There were other speakers who spoke on unemployment issues and college costs. Awake the State is increasing middle class awareness and a focused effort is underway to increase participation by average citizens in taking back sensible control of their government. It’s a slow process and the organizers are doing what they must to keep up the enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is contagious and based on the responses so far it’s going to continue to grow until the state is fully wide awake.

By Jerry Waxman

   “I see Bonaparte a mean one if ever I’ve seen one
And Nero fiddling’ thru that lovely blaze
Antoinette, dainty queen, with her quaint guillotine
Ha ha ha ha
Those were the good old days”

I know it’s a cheap shot but I couldn’t resist the title. You could wait a lifetime to have a title like this fall into your lap and not have to think too hard about it. Okay, I stole it from Stephen Vincent Benet, but we’re dealing with similar themes here. In Benet’s fantasy Daniel Webster, a real life US Senator, and one of the finest orators this country ever produced, is called upon to fight the Devil for the soul of one of his unwitting victims. It’s a nineteenth century twist on the Faustian legend. Our twenty-first century Dan Webster appears to be more like one of the Devil’s henchmen, sorely in need of saving. Of particular note, reading through his biography he claims to be distantly related to his nineteenth century namesake.

The story of Faust is as old as human beings are. The Faust of fifteenth century tales and of Christopher Marlowe dooms him to damnation for making a deal with the Devil. Later authors like Goethe and Benet allow outside forces to save him from destruction. The story is really about yielding to temptation, sacrificing one’s integrity, dignity and humanity for either political, or financial and social gain. That story can be found in Genesis in the Garden of Eden, and in a particular passage in the New Testament that deals with “Thirty Pieces of Silver.” Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is an outstanding example of temptation gone amok. More recently, in 1954, Douglass Wallop’s novel, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant was adapted for Broadway as Damn Yankees. It’s a modern day fable wherein a senior citizen, Old Joe Boyd, sells his soul and is transformed (by Mr. Applegate aka the Devil) into the greatest baseball player ever (Joe Hardy) in order to help his home team beat the Yankees. Old Joe, being a businessman of sorts gets Applegate to agree to an escape clause, so Applegate in order keep Joe Hardy on a short leash throws a series of temptations in front of him so that he can collect Joe’s soul. With apologies to Richard Adler and Jerry Ross I’ve used excerpts from their song, Those Were the Good Old Days to accent some of my points. In the mid sixties Peter Cook and Dudley Moore gave us Bedazzled, yet another humorous take on Faust.

I’d sit in my rocking chair peacefully rocking there
Counting my blessings by the score
The rack was in fashion, the plagues were my passion
Each day held a new joy in store

As a freshman member of congress Webster is no stranger to the present day Republican way of doing business. His history in the Florida Senate is a history of self promotion at the expense of other peoples’ rights and privileges. He first ran for the Florida House because he felt that his church was not getting a fair shake on local government zoning. His record on women’s rights is abysmal. He considers his sponsorship of the 1985 Home Education Act, which made homeschooling legal in Florida as his finest accomplishment. Since taking his seat he has been in lockstep with the Republican majority, having voted most recently for the Draconian Paul Ryan budget. Since his swearing in four months ago Webster has been a part of this massive conservative movement to return to the “Gilded Age” of pre-twentieth century America. He may have an engineering degree from Georgia Tech but his ideology doesn’t allow his math skills to add or subtract in any way that makes budgetary sense.

Was anybody happy?

Since January the Republicans in the House of Representatives, who campaigned on job creation have done everything they can to kill meaningful jobs while promoting the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act (which would actually create jobs and help reduce the deficit) and passing a budget that would be the pride of the Marquis de Sade and actually increase the deficit; doublespeak at its best. Webster is enough of a businessman to know that the budget doesn’t work and that the health care bill, while flawed, does. The problem is that the people who funded his ads and his campaign have him under their thumbs and he can’t afford to go against them. Republicans all over the country are similarly afflicted. Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida voters are up in arms and the backlash is growing. On April 26^th Webster held a town hall meeting in at which he was roundly booed and called a liar. When forced off his talking points he was like deer in the headlights, totally unprepared for the controversy. Here’s the video of that exchange. His carefully laid out charts, prepared by The Heritage Foundation and others on the deficit were misleading to say the least. Jim Callahan, a local activist, is a former employee of Chase Econometrics and works in the field of statistics was present at the meeting and expressed his concerns in this e-mail:

“Here is the CBO PDF — page 4 is the relevant page.
http://www.cbo.gov/budget/factsheets/2011b/medicare.pdf
“STATUS OF HOSPITAL INSURANCE TRUST FUND (in billions of dollars)”
The fund balance is going down by about $30-40 billion dollars a year and this in turn is reducing the interest income.
Close the $30 billion dollar gap; interest income recovers and Medicare is fine.
Hardly justifies the horror story that Congressman Webster was peddling to push the Ryan plan.
In other words Webster was using scare tactics with misleading data.

It is a $30 billion (with a “B”) gap — hardly the trillions that Webster implied.

Rising health care costs is a real problem and the Ryan plan does nothing to address that and in fact makes it worse by getting rid of comparative effectiveness panels.

Rising health insurance costs is a real problem and I don’t see the GOP endorsing health insurers to pay out 85% of their premium dollars on health care.
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2010/11/23/implementing-health-reform-medical-loss-ratios/”

Callahan went on to critique Webster’s overall performance and in a second e-mail sent this:

“You might have thought that we were just shouting down Dan Webster, but I was listening too.

Dan Webster said at least 5 newsworthy things:

1. He won’t vote for a clean debt limit bill (hold it hostage for Planned Parenthood cuts?)
2. Drill everywhere (bye, bye beaches)
3. He opposes comparative effectiveness research (evidence based medicine) to reduce medical costs — the Ryan bill will get rid of the panels

Here are examples of comparative effectiveness research (scroll down on page).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK42934/

4. “We get 5% of our oil from Libya” — the figure I have seen the most is 1.5%.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/02/libyan_oil

Essentially, Dan Webster gave a recitation of Republican talking points and
when he strayed from them (as in the case of Libyan oil) he got his facts wrong.

And the finale:
5. “Medicare will go broke in 9 years”

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/08/20100805d.html

It seems the Devil got Webster’s tongue. Compare and contrast Webster’s town hall with Alan Grayson’s infamous Aug. 17, 2009 meeting. Despite the raucous crowds outside (egged on by conservative talk hosts), the meeting inside was orderly and civil. Grayson was in total command of his subject and was not afraid to answer opposing questions honestly and candidly. District 8 voters are starting to experience buyer’s remorse big time.

And that glorious morn, Jack the Ripper was born
Ha ha ha ha
Those were the good old days

It’s not just happening here. Paul Ryan, the copyist of the Heritage Foundation’s sociopathic budget, has also met resistance as well as many others, including Sandy Adams, the newly elected representative from Orlando’s 24^th House district. Under the guise of reducing the deficit these legislators are actually going to increase the deficit as well as sacrifice sorely needed jobs in the process. Unfortunately (for us), they and way too many Democrats have opted to serve their own interests via corporate cash rather than adequately serve their constituents’ needs. Although Webster claims to be a moral Christian there is no sense of it here. He comes across as any of the false biblical prophets who genuflect properly and say well practiced empty words. There is no moral compass there. There’s certainly no honesty, as shown by Jim Callahan, and integrity is merely a word that he might be able to spell. On April 28^th Organize Now, a community based activist organization, dressed as zombies, demonstrated in front of Webster’s Winter Garden Office protesting the Republican budget that would cut Medicare, Medicaid and other important social programs that could force people to “work  until they die.” Organize Now is planning many more such demonstrations in the future including April 28 where they are going to “Pink Slip Rick” a plea for the citizens of Florida to fire Governor Rick Scott. According to Organize Now members the more that politicians cut needed programs they’ll be cutting their own throats.

I see cannibals munchin’ a missionary luncheon
The years may have flown but the memory stays
Like the hopes that were dashed when the stock market crashed
Ha ha ha ha
Those were the good old days

If Webster and his associates ever were to take an honest assessment of our present circumstances they could not pursue their current course, but that’s not likely since their reelection money depends on serving their funders’ desires. Our entire economic malaise is a result of corporate backed legislators overturning the 1933 Glass-Steagall act which preventing banks from becoming brokerage houses and instituted rules for investments. President Clinton signed into law Gram, Leach Bliley in 1999 which did away with Glass-Steagall and opened the door for all kinds of questionable investment opportunities. What is most disturbing is that too many Democrats voted for the bill. We’re still recovering from the debacle that followed in the last year of the Bush administration, but since we’re fighting three wars (two of them unfunded for several years during the Bush years, not taxing wealthy people and corporations their fair shares) we’re drowning in red ink. The Obama Administration did what it could to stem the blood flow and haphazardly began rebuilding the economy, but because our tax and trade policies hamper real economic growth it has been a slow and jobless recovery. It’s likely to remain that way as long as Republicans control the House of Representatives and control the budget process. It’s also possible that after they try to destroy the social safety nets in place since the New Deal, there could be a double dip recession which would hurt the country even more. So let’s issue this warning to Dan Webster; be careful what you wish for because you just might get it, and then there’ll be the Devil to pay.

  I’d walk a million miles or more
For some of the gore
Of those good
Old
Days!

By Jerry Waxman

As speeches go it was a very good one. The president is unexcelled in speechmaking by anyone in politics today, however he falls short of either FDR or JFK in his ability to be inspiring. They had a particular passion and a singular style that made you feel as though they were talking directly to you. Their impact hits you directly in the gut. When President Obama talks I feel like I’d better take notes because I’m going to be tested on it in a surprise quiz. Today was a little different because I felt like I was a board member getting a strategic plan by our CEO telling me almost everything I wanted to hear, and yet it fell far short of inspiring.

One of the reasons is that we’ve heard it all before in one form or another. The problem is that actions speak louder than words and so far actions by this president, his administration and too many Capitol Hill Democrats have not been consistent with their words. That’s not leadership. I’ve never said this publicly (I have privately) but the president acts more like a supreme con-man than an executive. During the campaign he made promises that so far he has not kept but he keeps us coming back for more. He’s one of the best three card monte or pea in the walnut shell men I’ve ever seen. As long as you concentrate on his voice you don’t notice what his hands are doing and he’ll confound you every time.

My feeling is that today’s speech was meant to shore up the base more than anything else. Let’s face it, progressives have been given short shrift in the last two years which has resulted in an extremely flawed health insurance plan (it’s certainly not health care), financial reform that’s a joke, a terrible education initiative and a horrendous Secretary of Education, extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, a non-existent energy policy and a continuing erosion of middle class working families. Two weeks ago his re-election campaign kicked off and said they had to raise a billion dollars to win. That’s not possible unless the progressive movement goes along, and even then he’s going to have to go to Wall Street to make up the difference and they are only going to give if they get something in return. This speech was specifically tailored to get the progressives to fall in line. I’d like to believe him. Yes, I’d love to take him at his word, but judging by his past performance I’m more than a tad skeptical about his ability to deliver. He has yet to demonstrate the kind of leadership that is needed to attain those goals. Why would we think that now things are going to be different? It doesn’t seem logical considering the Republican controlled House and several Blue Dog Democrats in the Senate who have bought into the cut entitlements myth.

Don’t get me wrong; I want him to succeed. If he succeeds the whole country, including the fraudulent Tea Party, benefits greatly. He stands undoubtedly head and shoulders above any possible candidate the Republicans can offer up, but that’s not saying much. The best way to help him succeed is to withhold all support and make him face primary challengers. Challengers such as Howard Dean or Dennis Kucinich could force him to face up to the fact that he has not adequately represented his constituency so far. That’s why Democrats lost heavily in 2010, and until they learn that lesson they will continue to get beaten.

The big push for re-election has fostered a Facebook movement that asks you if you can be counted in. Over a hundred of my friends asked me if I was in. I ignored most requests but I did answer a few with a resounding “NO.” My time, money and vote are going to have to be earned and not taken for granted. The speech was a good start. Now let’s see if he follows through. That would be real leadership.

By Jerry Waxman

“To see you through
Till you’re everything you want to be

It can’t be true, but
This time the dream’s on me”

Search the song catalogs from ASCAP or BMI and you’ll probably find thousands with the word dream, or it’s plural in the title and in the song itself. It can be used as a noun or a verb or an adjective or even an adverb. It’s a great word for emphasis and has a certain rhyme quality with scheme (I Can’t Get Started), supreme, beam, gleam, steam, seem, cream and team. Probably every song writer has used it more times than they care to count. Why not? The dictionary provides a plethora of uses and moods for the word, ranging from hope and desire to hallucinate and nightmare. We all love to dream in one way or other. The 1941 Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer song cited above depicted the hopes and dreams of a band of travelling musicians, living in boxcars, in the movie, Blues in the Night, just looking to be seen as respectable. Dreams provide a release from some of the reality we face. I’ll wager that if I took the time I could take a line from song A and a phrase from song B and mix and match lines, word and phrases from all of the available material in songs C,D…………ad infinitum that I could write a convincing article or story. In my piano playing days I could easily play four or five sets a night for a solid week without ever repeating a title that had the word in it.

Dreams keep hope alive. Dreams themselves are not important-the subjects of them are. Cervantes chased the impossible dream knowing full well that he would never see it through to fruition, however it gave him his reason d’ etre. Four words spoken by Martin Luther King inspired a nation. Late 19^th Century industrial empires were envisioned by dreamers and built on the toil of everyday labor. European immigration was fostered by the dream of “Streets paved with gold” in the land of opportunity, which is still the reason people come here. It also saw the dreams of labor leaders like Samuel Gompers start to grow. By the early 20^th Century labor was becoming firmly established in the industrial and transportation trades with leaders like John L Lewis and A Philip Randolph and their followers fulfilling their dreams. On March 25, 1911 146 young women had their dreams cut short in a devastating fire at the Triangle Shirwaist factory that exposed horrendous sweat shop conditions in the New York Garment Industry. That tragedy gave rise to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and many of the social reforms in New York.  Upton Sinclair’s Novel, The Jungle, caused a sensation in 1906 by exposing the horrid working conditions in Chicago’s stockyards. It took nearly 30 years before the residents of the neighborhood were organized by Saul Alinsky to actually clean them up. In short, all of these people were chasing what we call “The American Dream.” America’s labor movement helped millions of them achieve it.

The dream may yet be alive today but the opportunities to achieve it are less and less. Under the sponsorship of Moveon.org a series of national rallies called Defending the Dream were staged all over the country on March 15 in order to keep the dream alive for average working people, you know, the middle class. In Orlando, Moveon.org council member Falcon Taylor got the word out and assembled scores of people to demonstrate in Lake Eola Park. Many people were there to support Wisconsin and protest against the war on the middle class.

Falcon Taylor opened the rally by requesting a moment of silence for the victims of the earthquake in Japan and then outlined all of the issues which the group was fighting for. Mary Burnette, a retired teacher extolled the intrinsic value of teachers and all public sector employees which is being ignored by the Florida Legislature in favor of budget cutting. The crowd showed its enthusiasm chanting

“The people, united, will never be divided!” Sue Casterline spoke about the disparity of wealth between the 400 people who have as much wealth as half the population of the country combined. Patty Duffy, a physical therapist who treats elderly patients, works hard to get funding for them, yet meets resistance from the authorities. She pleaded with the crowd to attend ever rally and grow in numbers. Special guest speaker, former Congressman Alan Grayson responding to the chant, “Don’t cut teachers, don’t cut cops, collect the taxes from the top!” said that we owe something to our teachers, police, fire fighters, hospital workers and other public servants and that we need to fight for those jobs and benefits.

There was a short strategy discussion on how to deal with conservative legislators before the last speaker, Shayan Elahi, who came here 21 years ago from Pakistan, spoke about the opportunities that still exist here, excoriating the Republicans for creating our bad economy over the decade they have been in charge in Florida. There will be future gatherings and the crowds are expected to grow.

Florida is in the awakening stages. Last week’s Awake the State rallies are just the beginning. People here have not completely shaken the cobwebs off and have not yet gotten the sleep out of their eyes, but the movement is growing, as it is in other states being shown the way by the crowds in Wisconsin. One thing is for sure, no one at the Lake Eola rally was wishing Rick Scott pleasant dreams, unless they include a visit from Freddy Krueger.