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demwing
demwing's Journal
demwing's Journal
May 27, 2015
On the Issues:
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/bernie_sanders.htm
Ballotpedia Page
http://ballotpedia.org/Bernie_Sanders
Funding
http://votesmart.org/candidate/campaign-finance/27110/bernie-sanders#.VWWoLXGCOK0
Campaign Site
https://berniesanders.com/
Bernie Sanders On the Record
On the Issues:
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/bernie_sanders.htm
Ballotpedia Page
http://ballotpedia.org/Bernie_Sanders
Funding
http://votesmart.org/candidate/campaign-finance/27110/bernie-sanders#.VWWoLXGCOK0
Campaign Site
https://berniesanders.com/
May 27, 2015
Idea #2: Help Working Families
Idea #3: Expand Social Security
Idea #4: Tame Wall Street
Idea #5: Reinvent Education
Idea #6: End Corporate Welfare
Idea #7: Strengthen Unions
Idea #8: Raise the Estate Tax
Idea #9: Make Polluters Pay
Idea #10: End Mass Incarceration
Idea #11: The Medicare Solution
Idea #12: Get Big Money Out of Politics
UPDATED: Robert Reich - (10) TWELVE Ideas to Save the Economy
Idea #1: Fight for $15Idea #2: Help Working Families
Idea #3: Expand Social Security
Idea #4: Tame Wall Street
Idea #5: Reinvent Education
Idea #6: End Corporate Welfare
Idea #7: Strengthen Unions
Idea #8: Raise the Estate Tax
Idea #9: Make Polluters Pay
Idea #10: End Mass Incarceration
Idea #11: The Medicare Solution
Idea #12: Get Big Money Out of Politics
May 22, 2015
Now relate this to our conservative relatives (I think we've all got one) who keep watching FOX news, forwarding wacky CT emails from their "church groups", and voting in the Republican ratfuckers who don't serve the interests of the people they pretend to represent.
Like the people who try to ride the BBB (backwards brain bicycle), they base their actions on behavioral algorithms that were programmed long ago in life. They're not aware that someone has changed the rules, and that the step they followed in the past -- which once helped steer their lives -- now sends them into a dangerous spiral and an inevitable crash. Even after crashing several times, their behaviors are so ingrained that they can't recalculate.
The good news for all of us is that time and persistence CAN change even the most fundamental behaviors, and though the programming takes time, the "Aha!" moment can happen in a sudden swoop.
If we can learn to reverse the way we choose between right and left as we ride a bike, we can do it when we vote.
The Backwards Brain Bike (and why you shouldn't give up on your conservative relatives!)
first, watch this video, it sets the stage for discussing how we program our brains:
https://m.
Now relate this to our conservative relatives (I think we've all got one) who keep watching FOX news, forwarding wacky CT emails from their "church groups", and voting in the Republican ratfuckers who don't serve the interests of the people they pretend to represent.
Like the people who try to ride the BBB (backwards brain bicycle), they base their actions on behavioral algorithms that were programmed long ago in life. They're not aware that someone has changed the rules, and that the step they followed in the past -- which once helped steer their lives -- now sends them into a dangerous spiral and an inevitable crash. Even after crashing several times, their behaviors are so ingrained that they can't recalculate.
The good news for all of us is that time and persistence CAN change even the most fundamental behaviors, and though the programming takes time, the "Aha!" moment can happen in a sudden swoop.
If we can learn to reverse the way we choose between right and left as we ride a bike, we can do it when we vote.
May 1, 2015
Bang the Drums for Bernie
Not all of us can donate dollars, but many can donate time and knowledge. One thing we can all do is start banging the drums for Bernie.
So get out your pens and paper, write your local newspaper editors, write your local news stations, and write your favorite bloggers, and ask me them to run more stories about Bernie Sanders' plan to save Social Security, or Bernie Sanders' plan to put Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and dams. Whatever message Bernie has that speaks to you, write the media and demand to hear it.
You and I may not have a billion dollars, but together we can bang a billion drums.
April 30, 2015
If you could save Democracy for $1 a day, would you?
https://berniesanders.com/donate/
Bernie Sanders needs our money, because their money will be spent by the billions to stop him.
Time to pick sides. Whose side are you on?
https://berniesanders.com/donate/
Bankroll Bernie!
https://berniesanders.com/donate/If you could save Democracy for $1 a day, would you?
https://berniesanders.com/donate/
Bernie Sanders needs our money, because their money will be spent by the billions to stop him.
Time to pick sides. Whose side are you on?
https://berniesanders.com/donate/
April 13, 2015
Her New Campaign Theme: "This Space For Rent..."
The New Hillary Logo/Fund Raising Opportunity
Her New Campaign Theme: "This Space For Rent..."
April 3, 2015
All We're Saying...
March 28, 2015
Read here: Warren Fundraises Off Wall Street Threats
Seriously Bankers, you want to know what will finally convince Warren to run for POTUS, and convince a bunch of conservatives to throw a vote her way??
(Hint, you just did it...)
Warren Responds to Big Banks
Read here: Warren Fundraises Off Wall Street Threats
Seriously Bankers, you want to know what will finally convince Warren to run for POTUS, and convince a bunch of conservatives to throw a vote her way??
(Hint, you just did it...)
March 28, 2015
Over a decade old, but with a quick coat of paint the article reads fresh.
Evil empires change over time, and though the Soviet Union is gone and our current face of Satan is Islam, we haven't become less devout missionaries for America. We've become more fervent. Satan is no longer a competing country, Satan is a competing religion.
One final quote:
The saying goes: "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" -- but who knew the two items were really one and the same?
America is a Religion
DonViejo posted a great Salon article about how Ted Cruz is really running for High Priest of America, here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1218189164
In the first paragraph Salon briefly quotes political activist George Monbiot, from his article "America is a Religion", written in July 2003.
The quote was chilling, and the full article more so. From a populist perspective, a separation of Church and State should be a foundational principle of a democracy, placing the power to govern under the authority of the people, not under the authority of a God.
About the Religion that is America, Monbiot wrote:
...the formation of the American identity was part of a process of “supersession”. The Catholic Church claimed that it had supplanted the Jews as the elect, as the Jews had been repudiated by God. The English Protestants accused the Catholics of breaking faith, and claimed that THEY had become the beloved of God. The American revolutionaries believed that the English, in turn, had broken their covenant: the Americans had now become the chosen people, with a divine duty to deliver the world to God’s dominion."
<<snip>>
"Gradually this notion of election has been conflated with another, still more dangerous idea. It is not just that the Americans are God’s chosen people; America itself is now perceived as a divine project. In his farewell presidential address, Ronald Reagan spoke of his country as a “shining city on a hill”, a reference to the Sermon on the Mount.7 But what Jesus was describing was not a temporal Jerusalem, but the kingdom of heaven. Not only, in Reagan’s account, was God’s kingdom to be found in the United States of America, but the kingdom of hell could also now be located on earth: the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union, against which His holy warriors were pitched.
http://www.monbiot.com/2003/07/29/america-is-a-religion/
<<snip>>
"Gradually this notion of election has been conflated with another, still more dangerous idea. It is not just that the Americans are God’s chosen people; America itself is now perceived as a divine project. In his farewell presidential address, Ronald Reagan spoke of his country as a “shining city on a hill”, a reference to the Sermon on the Mount.7 But what Jesus was describing was not a temporal Jerusalem, but the kingdom of heaven. Not only, in Reagan’s account, was God’s kingdom to be found in the United States of America, but the kingdom of hell could also now be located on earth: the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union, against which His holy warriors were pitched.
http://www.monbiot.com/2003/07/29/america-is-a-religion/
Over a decade old, but with a quick coat of paint the article reads fresh.
Evil empires change over time, and though the Soviet Union is gone and our current face of Satan is Islam, we haven't become less devout missionaries for America. We've become more fervent. Satan is no longer a competing country, Satan is a competing religion.
One final quote:
In December 2001, Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of that city, delivered his last mayoral speech in St Paul’s Chapel, close to the site of the shattered twin towers. “All that matters,” he claimed, “is that you embrace America and understand its ideals and what it’s all about. Abraham Lincoln used to say that the test of your Americanism was … how much you believed in America. Because we’re like a religion really. A secular religion.” The chapel in which he spoke had been consecrated not just by God, but by the fact that George Washington had once prayed there. It was, he said, now “sacred ground to people who feel what America is all about”. The United States of America no longer needs to call upon God; it is God, and those who go abroad to spread the light do so in the name of a celestial domain. The flag has become as sacred as the Bible; the name of the nation as holy as the name of God. The presidency is turning into a priesthood.
The saying goes: "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" -- but who knew the two items were really one and the same?
March 21, 2015
Jackie Kucinich
Will Rahn
03.19.15
Lets pass quickly over the anecdotes that Hillary thinks are fun (camping, her age) and make two observation:
First
"Fun Hillary" is an obvious attempt to take control of the narrative and switch the media focus away from "Risky Hillary" (comes complete with her own Yahoo email account, and special Kung-Fu Email-Deleting Grip!).
I'm not so concerned with the facts about the email issue itself, I'm concerned with the manner in which Hillary handles the media's perception of this issue. What Hillary does with her little email troubles speaks to her effectiveness as a campaigner, which, we are often told, is one of her strengths. . Her competency and her diplomatic skills are her major selling points. If she's viewed as someone who takes unnecessary risks with matters affecting our national security, she's toast.
Clinton could have went for "Bold" but she didn't. She could have owned the email issue and embraced the fact that she deleted emails with a comment like "Damn straight I deleted some emails - does America want her National Security issues floating around the Internet?" That's how Republicans would have dealt with the story...DARE anyone to challenge them on it. But she didn't.
Instead, Clinton went for "Fun." She was warmish, nearly fuzzy, and somewhat self-deprecating, and though she's never been as folksy as Bill, she was trying. I don't think she hurt herself, but I doubt she helped herself either, because she didn't change the narrative. She joked about her age. How does that inspire confidence again?
Second
Clinton's answers to policy questions tell us more about how she'll act as President than as a campaigner. That's valuable. Let's go back to what Clinton said:
So. Clinton wants to compromise with the Red Cabin? Really?
Has she NOT been paying attention to all the obstruction over the last 7 years, or is Clinton just hard wired to try to find a way to make Democrats more aligned with Conservatives? That doesn't sound very progressive to me. Doesn't sound "fun" either.
Maybe Hillary thinks there'll be compromise on both sides. If so, then I ask again: has she NOT been paying attention to all the obstruction over the last 7 years?
Remember her words: "Politics is for people who know how to talk and compromise, and the red cabin talked to the blue cabin when the Clinton's were in charge."
Indeed.
Let the "Fun" Begin.
Let the "Fun" Begin
The Daily Beast:Jackie Kucinich
Will Rahn
03.19.15
The last time we saw Clinton, she was on the defensive about her use of personal email at the State Department. On Thursday, addressing a room of happy campers, she was all sunshine.
America, meet fun Hillary.
A newly relaxed, approachable, and somewhat amusing Clinton was on full display Thursday at the American Camp Association’s Tri-State Conference in Atlantic City, where she gave what could be her last paid speech before launching a presidential campaign.
And first policy prescription for the room full of happy campers, before a veiled shot at the current Democratic president?
Have more fun.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/19/fun-hillary-is-here-to-make-you-forget-those-e-mails.html
America, meet fun Hillary.
A newly relaxed, approachable, and somewhat amusing Clinton was on full display Thursday at the American Camp Association’s Tri-State Conference in Atlantic City, where she gave what could be her last paid speech before launching a presidential campaign.
And first policy prescription for the room full of happy campers, before a veiled shot at the current Democratic president?
Have more fun.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/19/fun-hillary-is-here-to-make-you-forget-those-e-mails.html
Lets pass quickly over the anecdotes that Hillary thinks are fun (camping, her age) and make two observation:
First
"Fun Hillary" is an obvious attempt to take control of the narrative and switch the media focus away from "Risky Hillary" (comes complete with her own Yahoo email account, and special Kung-Fu Email-Deleting Grip!).
I'm not so concerned with the facts about the email issue itself, I'm concerned with the manner in which Hillary handles the media's perception of this issue. What Hillary does with her little email troubles speaks to her effectiveness as a campaigner, which, we are often told, is one of her strengths. . Her competency and her diplomatic skills are her major selling points. If she's viewed as someone who takes unnecessary risks with matters affecting our national security, she's toast.
Clinton could have went for "Bold" but she didn't. She could have owned the email issue and embraced the fact that she deleted emails with a comment like "Damn straight I deleted some emails - does America want her National Security issues floating around the Internet?" That's how Republicans would have dealt with the story...DARE anyone to challenge them on it. But she didn't.
Instead, Clinton went for "Fun." She was warmish, nearly fuzzy, and somewhat self-deprecating, and though she's never been as folksy as Bill, she was trying. I don't think she hurt herself, but I doubt she helped herself either, because she didn't change the narrative. She joked about her age. How does that inspire confidence again?
Second
Clinton's answers to policy questions tell us more about how she'll act as President than as a campaigner. That's valuable. Let's go back to what Clinton said:
But the real fun began when she started talking about the political environment in Washington. Using camp metaphors, of course.
“The red cabin and the blue cabin have to come together and actually listen to each other. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea?” she said. “Sort of create this much more open dialog opportunity which I would like to see more of in this country.”
Later she stressed the importance of building relationships with the other side of the political aisle.
“I don’t think there is any substitute for building relationships, I just don’t,” she said.
Left unspoken was how the head counselor of the blue cabin has been routinely criticized for failing to forge a bond with the campers in the red cabin.
She also painted a rosy picture of Bill Clinton’s relationship with Newt Gingrich when the latter was House speaker, saying Gingrich would come over to the White House to hash out policies out with the president after he was done trashing them in public. They got stuff done. Politics, she stressed, is for people who know how to talk and compromise, and the red cabin talked to the blue cabin when the Clinton's were in charge.
“The red cabin and the blue cabin have to come together and actually listen to each other. Wouldn’t that be a novel idea?” she said. “Sort of create this much more open dialog opportunity which I would like to see more of in this country.”
Later she stressed the importance of building relationships with the other side of the political aisle.
“I don’t think there is any substitute for building relationships, I just don’t,” she said.
Left unspoken was how the head counselor of the blue cabin has been routinely criticized for failing to forge a bond with the campers in the red cabin.
She also painted a rosy picture of Bill Clinton’s relationship with Newt Gingrich when the latter was House speaker, saying Gingrich would come over to the White House to hash out policies out with the president after he was done trashing them in public. They got stuff done. Politics, she stressed, is for people who know how to talk and compromise, and the red cabin talked to the blue cabin when the Clinton's were in charge.
So. Clinton wants to compromise with the Red Cabin? Really?
Has she NOT been paying attention to all the obstruction over the last 7 years, or is Clinton just hard wired to try to find a way to make Democrats more aligned with Conservatives? That doesn't sound very progressive to me. Doesn't sound "fun" either.
Maybe Hillary thinks there'll be compromise on both sides. If so, then I ask again: has she NOT been paying attention to all the obstruction over the last 7 years?
Remember her words: "Politics is for people who know how to talk and compromise, and the red cabin talked to the blue cabin when the Clinton's were in charge."
Indeed.
Let the "Fun" Begin.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Venice, California
Current location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Member since: Fri Jul 2, 2004, 04:55 PM
Number of posts: 16,916