Goodbye Democrats Abroad!

Hopefully yesterday was the very last meeting that I participate in with this organization.

For those that know me, it's common knowledge that I did not have such a great time these last two years with regards to Democrats Abroad.

However, I can't help but be grateful for those that, two years ago, took the time to vote me into office.

I wish I could have done more for you.

The people who attended the meeting got a peek into some of the craziness that I have put up with for the past two years.

The ones that showed up to the bar afterwords got more of the details.

I am glad I got to get some of that off my chest at Sugar Bar. I was really happy to see quite a few people show up to have a beer with us.

I also feel pretty bad for those that showed up. Not enough of us made it to the meeting and we needed 25 people to reach a quorum. Sadly, we got up to about 19 people.

I also feel pretty bad for the three brave souls who ran for office.

I wish I could have done more for you too.

As for what's going to happen next with Democrats Abroad Argentina, I don't have a clue. Yanqui Mike has promised to look into the matter and let us all know.

Meanwhile, I am going to take some distance for a while and try to reflect on my DAA experience.

Decertified?

Yesterday I wrote this post that was basically an emotional response. I should know better, but having received potshots from these people for better part of a year and facing what we thought was going to be desertification without a fair hearing from Democrats Abroad just got the better of me.

I saved that post to remind me of what I should probably not fall for in the future. Yeah, there are some people that constantly look to tear me down. It has happened once before.

So if you would like the cliffnotes version of what all of this is about.....

I ran for office as Treasurer of Democrats Abroad Argentina and won. I had several proposals of mine meet up with resistance from a minority of our executive group, things like participating in an annual 4th of July event that ICANA hosted and having us meet at ICANA for example. I also proposed that we piggyback on events with Internations who love to hold happy hour events around the city. This minority has gone on to press International to de-certify us because according to them these things I proposed are an abomination and they are illegal. My point was that they are not and I was never given a chance to prove it.

Small group politics are boring and this one is no exception. Except that now International has gotten into the middle of this and all I want to know is what are they going to do about it.

So, those of you who already saw the original post will understand why I took it down. The others who chance upon this for the first time can just rest assured that it was not a radical post, but it did target and ridicule slightly the one person who I think is responsible for all of this. But, since I really don´t want to get petty and bring myself down to their level I decided to replace it for now with this.

I do apologize to you my readers for the mix-up. I also apologize to that person I ridiculed publicly. I should have just kept it private. Just keep in mind, that being mixed up is part of life and makes us human. Also apologizing is tough.

Now back to what I should be doing and that is talking to grown up business people about business.

Happy Birthday Democrats!

Happy 45th Birthday!!

Come help blow out the candles (figuratively) and in true democratic fashion, you don't need to be a member, and you will not be charged anything to attend.

Basically everyone is welcomed!
Free and open to the general public

Freak Restaurant
Fitz-Roy 1715
Palermo Hollywood
Festivities start at 8pm

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Goals

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
--Arnold Toynbee

Every month I get together with several other volunteers under the banner of Democrats Abroad Argentina. This is my first dabbling in politics and at first it seemed kind of frustrating. I am so used to a different speed; I am used to making decisions and running with them on the spot. This has been more like watching paint dry, and finally it is starting to look like we are building some momentum.

I approached a fellow expat and local business leader Martin Frankel. This guy is everywhere and his efforts seem to be paying off. He has been holding networking events, meetings for small business owners; he is a partner in Sugar Bar, and now he has a new business called Areatres. This place is a state of the art office rental workspace. The facilities are top notch and he is right at ground zero of the trendiest neighborhood in Palermo Viejo.

Martin has generously offered a couple of months of office space for Democrats Abroad Argentina. I don´t know what we will do after we have gotten so used to such spectacular diggs for our meetings. I for one will go through Areatres withdrawal syndrome.

If you need a temporary office and you like the idea of having a very quick internet connection, wireless printer access, projectors, clean, quite offices, beautiful furniture, entrepreneurial spirit draping everything in sight, then you should check this place out.

Could it have been a coincidence that while we were at Areatres, we finally reached one of our biggest goals this year of filling all the sub-committee chairs? Maybe it was all that efficiency in the air.

Now I could confidently say that pretty soon we will start seeing actual Democrats Abroad Events. Although, it is not the only thing we are planning.

Stay tuned.

I Won! Now What?

Sorry. Yeah, I am sorry readers for staying away for so long. I have so much to write about, but I also have so much work to do.

Since my last post finished with me promising to tell you what I was going to do with the treasury, I suppose I should start there.

First of all, I know this is old news, but...

I Won!

I give my thanks to all of you who voted for me and basically put your trust in me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

We have had two official meetings already and it is starting to feel like we are pushing this thing off the ground. It´s a slow start, but we had to reorganize and lay the groundwork for growth. The actual money of DAAR was delivered to me and I will be posting the details of the transactions on the Democrats Abroad site very shortly.

We are going to be looking for people to lead standing committees. It will be a great chance for anyone who actually wants to do something, to belong to a movement and to actually effect change in their community. I will let Mike make that announcement though.

As for me, once I post the details of the Treasury, I will have completed a promise of making that transaction as transparent as possible. I am very approachable and I urge any of you to reach out to me with any ideas, doubts, suggestions as to what you want from your Democratic Party in Argentina.

I plan on making this as transparent as possible and representative as possible as well.

Meanwhile, I have lots of pictures to post on my trip to Patagonia; I have several new client announcements for Sugar & Spice; And I could make so much fun of the Republican party right now, but I have so much to do and they are just being so goofy on their own little selves. Well, okay, maybe I don´t have time, but these guys do...

They have a new emperor you know.

And just to remind yourself just who lead the Repubs and the rest of the country into this clusterfuck of a situation, here is a round up of "President Bush´s Legacy: One of Our Greatest Presidents by Jon Swift"--a reasonable conservative who likes to write about politics and culture. Since the media is biased he gets all his news from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno monologues.

Politics have never been so funny.

Why Should I Vote for Yanqui Mike?

Well here I am on vacation in Villa La Angostura with my 4 and 6 year old daughters and wife and I have had a great time except for one thing; I had to make sure and vote for Democrats Abroad Argentina.



Normally this is no big deal, but this is Argentina and technology is great when it works, and it is the absolute worst when it does not work. I finally got passed that hurdle and put my vote in yesterday after visiting three locutorios.



I have been quite isolated from what has been going on with this race in Buenos Aires. This could be fortunate or unfortunate for me. I don´t know, it´s too early to tell. I read somewhere that there has been some negativity flying around. I have not been able to count on a consistent internet connection and sometimes I can´t even get into my e-mails; I can only read the titles.



Regardles, I just wanted to get something off my chest regarding this whole thing. Our last head chair, Mike Skowreneck, was on the wrong end of a vote of no confidence by his executive board. This guy was the one who I saw work his ass off to create this thing in the first place.



The charges were that he used funs illegally and that he censored a mailing or a post and that he was just a tyrrant.



When I heard about the first charge I took pause and asked him myself. His answer cleared him of any illegal conduct in my book. He basically took the proceeds from the debate party and sent it in to the Obama campaign against the wishes of the other members. This was a group and they were fighting. However, the tag of "illegal" was thrown around with ease.

He sent the money to Obama, he didn´t try to sell the DAA database or buy his wife a leather jacket or anything like that. I was one of the donors and have been throughout the groups existance. Believe me, the option of the money going to the Presidential campaign seemed like a good idea to me.


Anyway, he did have a reason for doing this and he was going to answer all the charges brought against him in a meeting that was first called and then cancelled. He never got to defend himself. The charges against him just hung out there like dirty laundry that was never washed and was forgotten, but was visible for everyone to see. He already posted about this in the DAA board so if you are registered you can see it there. He will also no doubtedly have the opportunity to answer any one else´s question regarding this during the meeting on the 31st.



The censorship charge was just laughable as I understood it. He wanted one word changed from an article, and that word was "oligarch" or "oligarchy". In Argentina it is a word that has a lot of weight behind it. It is not something to be taken lightly. He understood the negative connetations of that word and just did not want it in that article. For one word he was labeled a censor.



As for the tyrannt thing? Well he has never been my boss. I have disagreed with him in the past and I found him to be passionate, but not so stubborn as to insist that his way is THE way and nothing else exists. In fact, I kind of like dissagreeing with him almost as much as I like dissagreeing with him. Now if I can stand up to the Yanq in a civil manner, why couldn´t these four people do it¡?



After that is out of the way I would vote for him based on what he has already achieved:



He created Dems Abroad Argentina

Responsible for the very first DAA elections, a virtual event

Organized Super Tuesday Party, co-sponsored with Expat Connection

“Yes We Span”, worldwide visually symbolic show, invited photographer: Cate Kelly

“Unite for Change”, worldwide reach out effort

4th of July Celebration, co-sponsored with Good Morning Buenos Aires

Film Festival, co-sponsored with INADI (National Institute Against Discrimination), invited film director: Sebastian Cordoba

Cocktail Party Membership drive, co-sponsored with Good Morning Buenos Aires, organized by: Samuel Warde

2008 Democratic National Convention Finale Party, co-sponsored with Expat Connection

DAA represents DA at DNC Delegation in Denver, REMEMBER MIKE WAS THE ONLY BLOGGER IN THE WORLD INVITED TO JOIN THE DEMOCRATS ABROAD DELEGATION

DAA Designs Contest

1st Presidential Debate Watch Party (at Sacramento Bar)

1st Vice-Presidential Debate Watch Party (at Sacramento Bar)

2nd Presidential Debate Watch Party (at Sacramento Bar)

2 weeks rally “Phones for Obama” to all US citizens in Central, South America and the Caribe, organized by: Americans Abroad for Obama

Democrats Abroad Argentina Election Night Watch Party in Buenos Aires (at Sacramento Bar)

Now that I got this out of the way, the second time I post about this election I will write about how I plan to run the Treasury of Democrats Abroad.

Running for Treasurer of Democrats Abroad Argentina

As if I didn´t have enough things on my plate right now, I decided to make a run for Treasurer of Democrats Abroad Argentina. For those of you who are not members and would not get to see my post on that website, I offer it to you here:

I am honored to be included for consideration for the position of Treasurer.

I have lived in Argentina since 1999 and have lived through the major financial meltdown of 2001. Catastrophe and crisis usually come hand in hand with opportunity. Back then that crisis was part of the world events that lead me to try something new. Out of that crisis Sugar & Spice was born and it grew to become Argentina´s first truly gourmet cookie brand, singel handedly creating the local retail gourmet cookie segment and reaching over 2 million pesos in sales this year.

Before I entered into the world of entreprenuership, I was working in corporate sales of Crown Relocations in Buenos Aires, and before that I ran English conversation classes and helped people create their own unique grad school essays.

Throughout the whole time I have been in Argentina I have also been involved with Fundación Leer, which is a local license of Reading is Fundamental from the United States. I saw first hand just how that group affected change, inspiration and hope in the eyes of the children that received their very first, and in many cases, the family´s only book. From that first tear streaked smile of a child hugging her book I was hooked. At first I donated time, and when I started my own company, I set aside a percentage of sales. We know have grown to be able to support a reading corner.

Democrats Abroad Argentina has also ventured into a crisis of its own. I am confident that we can pull it out of that mire and build upon the succesful work that has already been done. We should never forget how crisis and opportunity go hand in hand. I see living proof of that in every supermarket shelf and every child that recieves a book through Fundación Leer, and I would like to have a hand at making sure Democrats Abroad Argentina has a shot at success as well.

This would be something new for me and I would be honored to serve as your Treasurer.

Now what are we to do on Wednesday night?

Now that the special vote isn´t happening and you, the *thirsty beer swigging mob, have no where to go Wednesday night you might want to consider ditching your beer mugs for wine glasses.

I wanted to drum up some support for a tasting that Gary and Nigel organize on a monthly basis. This month, I'm covering for Gary. The tasting costs 35 pesos and it is at Nigel Tollerman's wine cellar at Anchorena 695.

If you can't make it, feel free to spread the word to others who might be interested :) They can RSVP to the Google groups list, or me at phos at pobox.com or my cell is 15-6942-7132, but if it is just a few you can also come without RSVP as we don't usually get close to packing the house.

I'm also planning to bring some cheese this month, so we won't go hungry. We also have a Google group dedicated to this monthly tasting, http://groups.google.com/group/vinoba

Take care,

Jason

Okay Jason, you asked for it. Get your cleaning crew ready to receive the thirsty, beer swigging mob.

*reference to someone thinking that this type of mob was going to appear at their 6th floor home.

High School Musical 4 or Democrats Abroad Undone?

I just can´t get a break. I was looking forward to this meeting to at least have some closure. Is it too much to ask to have a defining moment? This brought flashbacks of high school petty squabbling.

The special vote is canceled. Joe Green, the Vice Chair for Dems Abroad of the Americas wrote to all of us with the news that the showdown was off.

Someone backed down? Someone repented and took back their accusations?

Hardly, what happened was that the entire board decided to throw in the towel. That´s right, all of them quit and now we will have the normal yearly vote in January:

I write to inform you that, because of the current leadership crisis in your Executive Committee, all members of that Committee have tendered their resignations to the Democrats Abroad (DPCA or Democratic Party Committee Abroad) global leadership team. This means that there will be no special meeting on Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

Although Mike doesn´t get to face a firing squad, I am kind of let down because he also doesn´t get to respond to his accusers. I am sure that Mike was also disappointed. Debbie explained it pretty well in her blog post on the latest happenings.

However, I am sure he will get over it and will run again. I am looking forward to it, and I will support Yanqui Mike once again.

But, who will run the show if we don´t have a board?

The January 2009 Annual General Meeting of DAAR will elect a new executive committee and its officers (this would have had to happen in any event, since the 2008 selection was part of an organizing meeting and requires a new election at the first AGM). This meeting will be organized by the DPCA leadership and I plan to be with you at that time.

That´s right, the big man himself is coming down here to make sure things run smoothly and nobody wants to run around and cancel meetings, and change venues, and worry about drunken mobs tracking mud all over their living rooms.

Political Drama in Buenos Aires

We just couldn´t let the Republicans have all the fun of political infighting. Could it have been the lack of fight, now that Obama won, that made us turn on each other?

Democtrats Abroad Argentina is now organizing a vote to remove Yanqui Mike from DAA for this Wednesday night at the home of a fellow expat Laura Atkins:

Calle Austria 2660,
the entire 6th floor,
Recoleta, Buenos Aires
6pm

View Larger Map

Being a member of Democrats Abroad, I think I have previously mentioned it here, I have received some e-mails on the subject; another expat mentioned those e-mails in her post. And yet, another expat wrote about the same thing, and according to her post, she seemed to have met Yanqui Mike the same way I met him.

For transparency´s sake I have to mention that I consider Yanqui Mike a friend. I have been social with him and his wife and have gone out and shared a beer or two. It should not be any surprise to anyone that I would find all this nonsense unsettling. My very first reaction is to stand up for my friends. What kind of a friend would I be if that was not the case?

My second reaction was to check with him to see if he did anything wrong.

The other two posts on the subject, written by Gina of Buenos Aires Style and Debbie of TangoSpam highlighted the little we know of the accusations. So far, in those accusations, I don´t see any reason to have taken things this far. If there are other reasons I guess I will have to wait to hear what those are at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the accused Yanqui Mike, did write on his blog regarding this turn of events. The very first post on the call for his resignation has him promising to post every e-mail that he receives. The second one is actually a listing of some more e-mails--this guy gets a lot of e-mails. In the third one he is posting information on the meeting and begging people to go and witness and vote. In this one, "Heidi in San Juan" makes an important observation.

"This is more like Democrats Abroad Buenos Aires" since people that live in the interior of the country are out of luck and will not be able to vote unless they travel to the big city.

One other little thorn to this event is the timing. 6pm is very early for Argentina. There will be some people who will not be able to attend becuase they will be either working or stuck in rush hour traffic. However, I have also been calling people and the word on the street is that there is a lot of interest in this meeting and some people are making arrangements to get there. Heck, one guy is coming straight from the hospital after recuperating from surgery and another person is coming from Quilmes just to name two examples.

I wonder how big Laura´s 6th floor really is? We might have to actually use the entire floor.

I will have to take time out of my day. I would rather be playing with my kids, or spending time with my parents who are visiting from out of town, or being in the company of my own wife, getting dinner ready and talking about our day, etc.

I probably echo most of my fellow Democrats when I say the following: There better be some damaging evidence there ´cause what I have seen so far is petty squabbling and if I drag my ass out there to hear whining and little substance I am going to be pissed.

And if that wasn´t bad enough Ian of Goodairs just had to highlight how now it looks like the famous Argentine beef will be a thing of the past much sooner than later.

US Election Night

For those of you in Buenos Aires, Democrats Abroad has finally picked a place to watch the historic event with a slingbox connection to CNN from the USA.

If you want to know why it took so long you can click here. Otherwise I will see you November 4th.

Sacramento Resto Bar
El Salvador 5729
Palermo Hollywood
Buenos Aires
...from 9pm to whenever! Free and open to the public!

Next up, Sarah vs Joe

This time there is no cover charge at the door. And just to wet your appetite a little you can read these:

Sarah Palin on Dinosaurs, Cavemen and Sleestaks
Wanna See Sarah Palin Naked?
McCain Urges Treasury to Act Without Legislation on Bailout (and he wanted 1 Trillion dollars).
Witches, Fine... But Does Sarah Palin Believe in Religious Tolerance?
What's it Like to Debate Sarah Palin?

and see what Sarah is up against...

Biggest Debate Watching Party on the Planet!

Congratulations to Mike and gang of Democrats Abroad. Last week they organized the biggest debate watching party on the planet.

I knew there were a lot of people. Some of the people that I saw were:

Gina Gattone of Buenos Aires Style.
Maya of Sexy Spanish Club in Buenos Aires and hubby Tom Frost.
Kevin Dwyer of El Pavo Real B&B.
Cliff Williamson of Transpack.

and many more.

McCain Giving Women a Choice?

Carly Fiorina, ex Hewlett Packard CEO, is currently helping McCain with his run to the White House. In her efforts she has stated that women would like a choice when it comes to birth control.

"many health insurance plans cover Viagra, but wont cover birth control medication. Those women would like a choice" --Carly Fiorina

She was tapped to help McCain win the women vote. Here is another quote from Carly:

"Of course, it would be an honor for anyone to serve John McCain. But I'm really focused on helping the American people get to know him a little better," she said.

Well let´s see how she is doing. Below is a clip of John McCain trying to answer, or trying not to answer the Viagra/Birth Control question that Carly brought up above.




They are so in tune with each other aren´t they? What a well oiled machine! This is how you run a campaign!

And just in case you may not know why McCain needs help trying to get the women vote. Here is a little of what he is trying to erase or at least hope no one remembers. These are a sample of his jokes:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.

Okay, so when I read this one I chuckled a little bit, but then you gotta keep in mind Chelsea was only 17 years old. Now picture an old guy making fun of a seventeen year old girl. It just doesn´t have quite the same chuckle effect any more. And just to clarify, I laughed at the Bill Clinton--Janet Reno imagery not at poor little 17 year old Chelsea.

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’

I guess this is the reason why Viagra is covered for insurance? And no, I didn´t even crack a smile at that one.

And finally, I leave you with a video that pokes fun at John McCain calling his wife a cunt. Now this is comedy John.



The inspiration for this post came from Crooks and Liars, and Democrats Abroad.

Happy 4th of July!

The picture is from Living Large, and it is of Buckingham Fountain in Chicago.

After all these years in Argentina, last night was the very first time I actually celebrated the 4th of July on the actual day. Normally I would go to the Embassy's gig, but they normally have the full blown affair in March when the weather allows us to celebrate outdoors. It's actually a great event with hamburgers, hot dogs, food vendors, a Scholastic Books tent as well as games and music events. I even got to judge a pie contest one year; but that is a completely different event from the one I went to last night.

I got to catch up with Ian and Cintra from Goodairs. Here is a link to their post on the night. I met up with some other old friends and I even got to meet some that I had only exchanged e-mails with in the past. The get-together, sponsored by Democrats Abroad and Le Merval, was also covered by Clarin.com and you can see a little clip of it below. Yes, I am in it, and you can see me blank out on Obama's name. No I had not had any beers, in fact, I was interviewed just as I arrived. Maybe a beer first would have been a better way for me to go. Ah well, there's always next year.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to see some pictures of Chicago during the 4th of July you can click -here- and see how a future resident of Buenos Aires spends his last 4th of July there, before leaving for Argentina.

Obama in Spanish and Fox "News"

**The following is a post that I wrote for Democrats Abroad.

I found this video on a blog in Spanish called "Bloc de Periodistas" by Darío Gallo.




Snooping around I found that there are a whole bunch of these types of videos. Call me naive, unplugged from the reality of what is going on in the United States; but, really, has there ever been this type of attention on a presidential hopeful before?

Now the flip side to this positive attention. I have first-hand listened from some friends and family the lies that have been thrown out there by Fox News. This "news" program is so irresponsible. They have to constantly tell people that they are "fair and balanced" because that is exactly what they are not. Just place "un" in front of those two words and it begins to be a more realistic slogan for them. Try it, they are Unfair and Unbalanced. Doesn't that feel better? If you don´t believe me just start googling the subject after watching this video below and you will get a whole bunch of material.



As an added bonus I am including a link to a blog that tracks all the nonsense that Fox News dishes out. Part of their slogan is "We Watch Fox So You Dont Have To" brought to you by News Hounds. I am so glad they are sacrificing like that.