March 25, 2016

Bernie in Madison tomorrow

Bernie will be at the Alliant Center. Event is first-come-first-served, no reserved seats. Doors open at 1:00 p.m.

Register here: https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/rally/4gjyr#rsvp

March 25, 2016

Bernie in Madison, Wi tomorrow

Bernie will be at the Alliant Center. Event is first-come-first-served, no reserved seats. Doors open at 1:00 p.m.

Register here: https://go.berniesanders.com/page/event/detail/rally/4gjyr#rsvp

March 24, 2016

Sarah Palin prepping to be Trump's first SCOTUS appointment

http://www.people.com/article/sarah-palin-tv-judge-show





Per Conan O'Brien "Palin said she knows how to deal with drunks, deadbeat dads, and barroom brawlers — and that’s just her family."

March 24, 2016

Non Sequitor visits DWS

March 24, 2016

All right, just stop it! This is getting ridiculous.

All this fell since 5:00 p.m. yesterday.

March 23, 2016

Current candidates aside, what are the merits and weaknesses of open vs closed, caucuses, etc.?

Are changes to the primary schedule necessary? Could they be enough to fix our primary process? Does it need to be fixed?

Why closed primaries? Why open?

Are caucuses inherently more or less democratic than primaries?




As a related topic, what means and methods are available to rank-and-file Democrats to promote changes to the nominating process?

March 23, 2016

Why all the unreasonable demands? You can't really expect unicorns, rainbows or fair elections.

Now quit whining. Sheeeze.

March 22, 2016

How I Spent My 81 Day Time Out – Part 4: There's No Place Like Home

After visiting South Dakota as chronicled here and here, and Colorado as chronicled here, Crystal Dancer and I headed back to Wisconsin.

Ten hours later we skidded into Omaha, which was in the middle of an ice storm. Fortunately we got to our hotel without incident, enjoyed dinner at a nearby restaurant, got some sleep and headed out again in the morning. Roads were cleared by then and we were thankful for our good fortune - good weather and good roads for nearly all of our 2,687 mile trip.

Back home we turned up the heat, and the water heater, and noted that the river behind our house was still frozen solid ...



The worst of the brutal cold was long gone, but a substantial part of winter was still ahead of us. Not to worry, we had an activity planned that warmed the cockles of our hearts - campaigning for Bernie. We joined a local group planning a march and rally to help drive up Bernie's vote count.



What a great group of people we joined. Our two dozen regulars include ...

Nine women over age 60
Six men over age 60
Four women between 21 and 60
Two men between 21 and 60
One woman under age 21
Two men under age 21

The three youngest members are all still in high school, and they've been terrific. After hosting multiple voter registration drives at their local school they expanded their efforts to other area high schools. I'm both amazed by and proud of these young Americans. They're awesome.

We now have nearly 1,000 people who have RSVP's to participate in the march and rally. Not bad for a town of just over 6,000!

We had a big sign printed to help further drive up the numbers ...


Last Saturday we had a sign-making party. One of our members donated $400 for printing. Thanks Tom!

We had the signs printed locally and bought bundles of (made in the USA) 4' lath ...


... and set up an assembly line operation. One person would fold the printed poster in half, a second would staple the sides and bottom edge, leaving a space in the bottom middle. A third person would insert the lath while a fourth would staple the sign to the lath.

This handy jig made aligning the lath in the sign quick and accurate ..


A power stapler made the stapling fast and easy ...


We now have hundreds of signs ready to give to marchers ...



We also had thousands of door hangers printed and have more than enough volunteers to hang them! Here's one of our organizers punching out the holes in the door hangers. His name is Dimitri Martin (no, you're thinking of Demitri Martin) and he just announced that he's running for Wisconsin State Assembly for District 40! Go Dimitri, Go!!!


Last night Crystal Dancer and I also attended another Bernie event in nearby Stevens Point, hosted by someone actually from Bernie's campaign. I was delighted to see more than 60 folks show up for this despite the short notice. Even better, a dozen of us volunteered to host phone banking sessions and almost everyone who attended signed up to participate in phone banking. A great turnout, and an exceptional level of participation for our great candidate. Go, Bernie, Go!!!

So, all in all, being back in Wisconsin is great. Bernie supporters abound and nothing beats the Dairy State!


(Disclaimer: The cow in this picture no longer stands in this spot. I wonder where she ended up.)

March 21, 2016

How I spent My 81 Day Time Out - Part 3: Getting High in the Rockies

After leaving South Dakota, as chronicled in Part 1: The South Dakota Badlands in Winter and Part 2: Wild Asses Licked My Car, Crystal Dancer and I headed south for Colorado. Heading south through Wyoming we saw antelope and - a real treat for us midwesterners - cowboys on horses using dogs to herd cattle. Too cool for school.

Once in Colorado, we visited my son, daughter-in-law and grandkids. We had lots of fun catching up with them and even more fun visiting some great Rocky Mountain destinations. First up: Red Rocks Park, home of the Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a rock structure near Morrison, Colorado, 10 miles west of Denver, where concerts are given in the open-air amphitheatre. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind the stage, a huge vertical rock angled outwards from stage right, several large outcrops angled outwards from stage left and a seating area for up to 9,525 people in between. The amphitheatre is owned and operated by the City and County of Denver, Colorado and is located in Red Rocks Park, part of the Denver Mountain Parks system. Source.

This incredible facility was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. Thank goodness for those damned socialists!



My son "performed" at Red Rocks! Woo Hoo!


We hiked the Trading Post Trail, a 1.4 mile loop. Not far nor difficult terrain, but at 6,400 feet elevation us flatlanders definately noticed the thin air. Spectacular rock formations are the norm ...

















Then it was on to see the incredible vistas of Golden Gate Canyon State Park. No camera can do justice to the majesty of the Rocky Mountains ...





The next day we made a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. We did the 0.8 mile hike around Bear Lake, elevation 9,450. Talk about getting high! Even this short hike sucked the air out of us old flatlanders, but we loved every minute of it.



The treeline is at about 11,600 feet ...









All-in-all, a wonderful place to visit. Every American should see the Rocky Mountains at least once in their lifetime. Put it on your bucket list if you haven't been.

And stay tuned for Part 4: There's No Place Like Home

March 20, 2016

Bernie event in Stevens Point, Wisconsin Monday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m.

Organizing to help Bernie win. Even will be held at the Econo Lodge, 5110 Main Street in Stevens Point.

If you're in the area, please join us.