El Diario Endorses Change
El Diario, the oldest and largest Spanish language newspaper in New York City, has endorsed two pro-marriage equality candidates: Gustavo Rivera and Charlie Ramos.
Both candidates are running against powerful incumbents: Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. and Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., respectively. With a daily readership of over 290,000 people, the El Diario endorsement could potentially reach thousands of Bronx voters.
Of Gustavo Rivera, the endorsement reads:
The time has come to close the door on the politics of “me” and for the politics of “we” to reign. District 33 has a chance to do this on Sept. 14 by supporting Rivera.
To help elect pro-marriage equality candidates, visit the MYD 2010 Campaign Page.
UNITE FOR JOBS RALLY, SEPT. 10TH
Join the MYD Health Committee, 1199 SEIU, the TMA Workers Union, and several other progressive unions on in Harlem on September 10th for a rally of solidarity for jobs!
This march has one purpose: to use our strength in numbers to demand an economy that works for all Americans, not just the top 1%.
The rally will start at 4:00 p.m. at the former North General Hospital on 122 Street and Madison Avenue, and will march to 134 Street on Lennox Avenue, right in front of Harlem Hospital.
It would be great to see you there! We need as many young people there as possible to help demonstrate that our economy is not just hurting blue collar workers, but also recent college graduates!
Please feel free to contact me at any time for more information: Health@gomyd.com
Young Gets It Done: Sal Khan, 33
Never thought that tutoring/education from a Harvard MBA could be free? Think again. Sal Khan and his non-profit, Khan Academy, does just that. Through on-line lectures and tutorials on YouTube, Khan teaches 200,000 students math, science and an array of other subjects, all at no cost:
Khan Academy, with Khan as the only teacher, appears on YouTube and elsewhere and is by any measure the most popular educational site on the web. Khan’s playlist of 1,630 tutorials (at last count) are now seen an average of 70,000 times a day — nearly double the student body at Harvard and Stanford combined. Since he began his tutorials in late 2006, Khan Academy has received 18 million page views worldwide, including from the Gates progeny. Most page views come from the U.S., followed by Canada, England, Australia, and India. In any given month, Khan says, he’s reached about 200,000 students. “There’s no reason it shouldn’t be 20 million.”
And, his eager students aren’t Khan’s only supporters. A little guy named Bill Gates is also a big fan! Gates found out about Khan Academy through YouTube (naturally) and began watching the videos with his son. In Gates’ own words: “This guy is amazing. It is awesome how much he has done with very little in the way of resources.”
At just 33 years old, Khan, a former hedge fund manager, is quite accomplished. Born in New Orleans to immigrant parents from India, Sal went on to become a star student. In addition to an MBA from Harvard, he holds three degrees from MIT. A BS in Math and both a BS and Masters in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Making education affordable and accessible should be one of our main priorities in America. No one should miss out on an education because they can’t afford it. Sal Khan is doing his part to make this dream a reality. We have no doubt he is going to make a huge difference in many people’s lives.
Also, don’t forget to save the date for our 2nd Annual Young Gets It Done Party & Fundraiser! Details here.
CNN Money – Bill Gates’ Favorite Teacher
Democrats And Republicans Find Common Ground On Education Reform
Everyday the words and actions of strategists, legislators and pundits feed the growing polarization between the two main parties. In New York State for example, important legislation continues to be shelved or stagnate as partisan politics contributes to an increasingly ineffective government.
Despite this challenging environment, some researchers have been making gains on describing a specific agenda — one on which Democrat and Republicans can find some common ground.
Researchers at Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance believe that in the realm of education policy, the divisions between the parties are “quite minor.” Despite continued resistance to a unified plan, education reform recommendations like merit-based pay or the growing popularity for online education is embraced by leaders on both sides.
William Howell, Paul E. Peterson and Martin West, authors of the paper, go on to write:
Overall, there appears to be far less polarization between the parties than might be expected. On questions concerning their overall assessment of the nation’s schools, student and school accountability, and even the creation of charter schools, the distance between the parties amounted to less than 0.2 points on the 5-point scale. In the case of accountability measures, the combination of strong overall support and minimal partisan conflict suggests that such policies will continue to be central to the nation’s education reform agenda. In the case of charter schools, for which overall support is more mixed, it appears that the important divisions in public opinion are within rather than between the nation’s major political parties.
Below is a video summing up the results of their 2010 Education-Next PEPG Survey:
Poll Reveals Bipartisan Support for Education Reform
Meet the AG Candidates for Tonight’s Staw Poll!
Tonight is the Manhattan Young Democrats Straw Poll for Attorney General.
We will be gathering at Luca Lounge in the East Village from 7-11 pm for some drinks, debates, and decisions. Join us!
www.lucaloungenyc.com/lounge/
222 Avenue B between 13th/14th
From 7-9pm reduced prices: $5 mixed drinks, beer & house wines.
Meanwhile, here is some key info on the candidates to get you thinking.
RICHARD BRODSKY
- Current and Previous Positions Held:
- New York State Assemblyman (Westchester)
- LGBT Rights:
- Pro-Marriage Equality
- Supports Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act
- Environmental Protection and Rural Development:
- Supports ‘cancer mapping’ (state produced maps of environmental facilities and cancer hotbeds)
- Supports the Department of Environmental Protection regulation over the Indian Point power plant
- Supports bond acts to support clean air and water programs
SEAN COFFEY
- Current and Previous Positions Held:
- Naval JAG Officer, Federal Prosecutor
- LGBT Rights:
- Pro-Marriage Equality
- Supports Employment Non-Discrimination Act
- Supports Repeal of Defense of Marriage Act
- Supports Fair housing rights for LGBT
- Environmental Protection and Rural Development:
- Opposes drilling in the Marcellus Shale until it can be guaranteed that it would be pollution-free
- Will work to create more clean energy jobs and sustainable development sector
ERIC DINALLO
- Current and Previous Positions Held:
- Manhattan ADA
- Assistant New York AG
- New York State Commissioner of Insurance
- LGBT Rights:
- Pro-Marriage Equality
- Supports Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act
- Supports Dignity for All Students Act (DASA)
- As AG, will w add a LGBT Advocate position in Civil Rights Bureau
- As AG, will Challenge Federal Ban of gay men’s blood
- Helped extend insurance benefits to same-sex couples while co-chairing the New York’s Universal Health Insurance Task Force
- Environmental Protection and Rural Development:
- Will assign an Assistant AG to each county
- Expand basic legal services to local municipalities
KATHLEEN RICE
- Current and Previous Positions Held:
- Kings County ADA
- Nassau County DA
- LGBT Rights:
- Pro-Marriage Equality
- Supports Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act
- Supports Employment Non-Discrimination Act
- Supports Dignity for All Students Act
- Supports Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- As Nassau DA, Rice recruited LGBT prosecutors and appointed New York State’s first hate crimes-oriented prosecutor
- Environmental Protection and Rural Development:
- Will ensure that landlords will provide for non-toxic living spaces for tenants
- Will ensure that the same environmental protection laws will be enforced against corporate polluters regardless of the socioeconomic status of the area
- Will create a “311” system for legal assistance in rural ares
- Will create a Rural Affairs Advisory Council and appoint representatives (both elected and not-elected) from all regions of the state
ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN
- Current and Previous Positions Held:
- New York State Senator (Manhattan)
- LGBT Rights:
- Pro-Marriage Equality
- Supports Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act
- Supports Dignity for All Students Act
- Supports repeal of Defense of Marriage Act
- Supports Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
- Supports Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act
- Environmental Protection and Rural Development:
- Plans to expand the AG’s Environmental Protection Bureau with “innovative legal challenges and building regional environmental alliances”
President Obama’s Address on the End of the Combat Mission in Iraq
MYD Policy Points – Complete!
I’m proud to announce that the 2010 Policy Points are complete! You may remember them from our last General Meeting – we did some editing and created this, with all the highlights.
These policy points were created by our Issue Committees, for more details you can check them out here:
Community and Social Equity (CASE)
If you’re interested in endorsing the MYD Legislative Platform, or if you have any questions you can email Alex at political [at] gomyd [.] com for more information.
Thank you to everyone who made this possible!
Victory and Justice for New York’s Domestic Workers
August 31, 2010 will be a day remembered by many New Yorkers for a long time. Today Governor Paterson signed the Domestic Workers Rights bill. The bill extends a variety of employment protections enjoyed by most workers throughout the country and fixes a federal exemption for domestic service workers. While it may have made sense to exclude a live-in nanny in a prior era, when such nannies were practically (or often literally) members of the family, we now live in an age where large staffing companies provide consistent live-in help in a business oriented model. It’s therefore extremely appropriate to extend basic wage and hour protections to these workers.
Some of the main benefits of the law include:
- One day off per week (or equivalent OT pay)
- Three paid vacation days annually
- Time and a half for overtime hours (over 40 or 40 hours/week)
- Eligibility for disability benefits
- Inclusion in New York’s anti-discrimination law and additional provisions protecting workers from racial and/or sexual harassment
The benefits from this law are clear. Domestic workers will be guaranteed dignity and justice on the job. They will gain one day off a week, overtime benefits, and will no longer be exempt from the protections of the state anti-discrimination law. For workers in very specific and intimate work settings, they will now have the protection of the law to fend off discriminatory or abusive working conditions.
Furthermore, it is very possible that domestic workers will be given the right to organize and collectively bargain in the near future. The state labor department is authorized to study the feasibility of extending collective bargaining rights to domestic workers under New York’s Labor Law. Domestic workers are excluded from the protections of the National Labor Relations Act (federal law) but may be included in state law. This is analogous to the controversial Farmworkers Rights Bill in the domestic setting.
I would guess that this probably leads to organizing rights under state law for domestic workers who work for a staffing agency. It would be inordinately difficult to organize individual domestic workers working in individual homes, but through a staffing agency a union could represent the employeees of the staffing agency. Such a union would look a lot like home health care aide unions.
One more note: this is an important victory for labor on a larger scale. Any extension of organizing and employment benefits for some workers is a victory for all workers. It gives us more legitimacy to argue for further extension of labor protections for unprotected workers, like New York’s farmworkers. It helps increase union density and improves the progressive movement as a result. And dignity on the job is the single best way to improve the quality of life for the working class.
Today is a great day for domestic workers and all those who stand for justice and fair pay at the workplace.
Between Now and Sep 14: Anti-Espada, All The Time!
Huge shout-out to Margaret, Betsy, Scott, Richard, Paul and Kim for coming out with me last weekend to canvass in the 33rd. It was tons of fun and talking to people in the district really highlights just how high the anti-Espada fever is running.
To quote one resident, whose door we knocked upon in the 97-degree heat on Sunday afternoon:
Pedro Espada can go to hell.
In that spirit, we’re passing along info on another anti-Espada event taking place this coming Saturday. Our friends at the New Roosevelt Initiative will be leading the charge. Email vp [at] goMYD [dot] com back to get connected with the organizers. Details here:
Mr. Espada is giving away free food and school supplies at two locations on Saturday morning, and we are trying to get 40 people to go out to make his life miserable. We’re meeting at 9:30, and will hit both of their giveaway sites. Details are below if anyone can make it!
PROTEST AGAINST PEDRO ESPADA
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2010
9:30 am – c. 11:30 amVladeck Hall (9.45-10.30)
74 Van Cortlandt Park South (corner Hillman Avenue)Moshulu Library
285 East 205th Street(10.30-11.15)
Of course, converting anti-Espada sentiment to actual votes on Sep 14 are two very different things. That’s why we need you to mark your calendars for canvassing on Sunday, Sep 12, for GOTV! In a district where only 10-15% of the base gets out to vote, every single vote will count. Again, email me if you want in on the fun: vp [at] goMYD [dot] com.
Numbers Don’t Lie: Honeymoon Definitely Over Between Wall Street and Obama
We already knew this. It’s no secret. Obama and Wall Street have had a very public break-up. Of Tiger/Elin Woods proportions. In fact, anyone who has friends who work in finance–like me–have heard the rants firsthand. Wall Street to Obama is the equivalent to a scorned woman looking to take her ex-husband for all he’s worth. They feel burned by the President and it’s gotten pretty ugly. Losing your biggest (and wealthiest) supporters can only mean one thing: they go to the other party. The numbers are in and there has been heavy casualties:
Less than two years ago, Democrats received 70 percent of the donations from Wall Street; since June, when the financial regulation bill was nearing passage, Republicans were receiving 68 percent of the donations, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group.
With this huge loss of support, Republicans have no doubt gained momentum. And that unsettling, all-too-familiar-feeling-of-uncertainty is looming again. Which means one thing — we have A LOT of work to do!
There’s more than one way to have an impact on elections this season — and donating tens of thousands of dollars is only one way to do it. Check out our list of 2010 Campaigns for more info and get plugged in.
NY Times – Why Wall Street Is Deserting Obama
