Suicide Prevention

I am a poll watcher because I am a fervent believer in science and the statistical math from which all polls spring even though my own abilities in math fall into the stratosphere of negative numbers.  Polls, math, and science often do not agree, however, and so the question arises again who does one trust?

Nate Silver has been my guru of pollsters for many reasons mostly because he was one to get the 2012 prediction of the re-election of the president correct and predicted Ohio for the president. 

I also looked to Silver because I found his predictions then before the election of 2012 comforting as Rove and his band of merry immorals danced a frenzy around Fox News computerized Fox election central calculation room desperately trying to find a result that declared a pounding victory for his boy Romney. The only pounding that Faux Fox News gave the romping Rove was that which the president delivered to him.  Yes, I was giddy that night watching Republican racists wring their hands trying to figure out what oh what could they do to gain the minority vote.  Republican is an oxymoronic word that connotes the opposite of egalitarian politics.  Republicans trying to gain the minority vote is like the Ku Klux Klan trying to make a kosher meal.

Mid-term election November 2014 finds me in a worrisome stew.  The pollsters, almost all of them, EXCEPT Sam Wang of Princeton are predicting a Republican takeover of the Senate.

Republican takeover of anything is impossible for me to digest but Republican takeover of the Senate makes me, well,  suicidal.  How ANYONE on planet earth who is not part of the 1% megga wealthy can bring themselves to vote Republican I will never, if I lived to be 110, understand.  The explanation as I see it is white racism on steroids.  Even though the president is not on the ballot white racists are voting for Republicans because they loathe a black man in the oh- so-historically-white house.

Take pity on me and work your posteriors off for a Democratic victory across the nation to prevent a suicide.  Just kidding -- maybe.  Send this to anyone you choose especially minorities and women to get them to vote Democrat and find ways to vote even IF the rancid Republicans try their damnedest to rob us of the vote.  They cannot if you play by the rules and then show up November 4, 2014.

Call, write, smoke signal, contribute do ANYTHING you can to prevent a Republican takeover of the Senate.  We could lose EVERYTHING we have gained ... EVERYTHING.  I and we cannot take a Republican victory.  Republicans RUIN a nation and then rely on Democrats to save us from drowning.  PLEASE for my sanity crush Republicans in November. Prove Sam Wang right and save a life!

It's a Girl!!

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, tweeted early Saturday morning that she had given birth to a baby girl named Charlotte.  A plethora of congratulations are pouring in on blogs one of which, of course, is mine.  Carrying one's genes on to the next generation is, for most, a celebratory event even if those genes one day get lost in an ocean of DNA.

It is that part of carrying on one's genetic heritage to the next generation for those of us who do not have children -- at least for me -- is the part I miss. Always contemplative about such things I think most know life and raising a child in it is not all roses and daffodils.

As I watched "The Roosevelt's: An Intimate Portrait," a Ken Burns's documentary Franklin Roosevelt, the future 4-term president, was a most loved and privileged only child. But his birth into this patrician family of wealth and privilege did not shield him from life's vicissitudinous onslaughts. Tragedy struck the gifted man upon whom fate, it seemed, always had shown and devastated his once beautiful body. Polio in the extreme permanently paralyzed both his legs. I commiserated with the life's burden he was forced to bear in the prime of his life, interrupting its trajectory as it placed a Herculean detour in his hoped-for road to the presidency. 

I wish Chelsea, her husband and the child's famous grandparents well and hope the she grows up smart, healthy and strong as even privilege carries no guarantees. Franklin Roosevelt made his lemonade out of the sour-lemon fate he was dealt.

But in the brilliant film "Ordinary People" Beth, the mother of a beloved son who was killed in a boating accident cries to her brother on a golf course of wealth when he tells her to be happy. She says to him:

"Happy? Ward you tell me what's happy? But first you better make sure your kids are safe. That none of them have fallen out of a tree, or been hit by a car, or drowned in that pool you're so proud of! Then you come to me and tell me how to be happy!"

I love that scene, for which Mary Tyler Moore should have gotten best actress because it snaps us into reality that for some life does not always bring a festive New Year's Eve joy but a long difficult journey through a mountain of uncertainly.  I wish for Chelsea's child the ability to plod on through the inevitable bramble seeking the light and the gift we are given for a very short time to see that light and all the beauty that shines through.

The Coffee Cup Salute

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO KNOW EXACTLY WHY REPUBLICANS CAN NEVER EVER BE ELECTED TO ANYTHING NOT EVEN DOG CATCHER.  CONSERVATIVES IN THEIR OWN DISGUSTING FASHION BY THE FOX NEWS CONVEYOR BELT WANTED TO GET A BELT IN AGAINST GUESS WHO?  YES, THE PRESIDENT FOR HIS SO CALLED "COFFEE CUP SALUTE."   JOHN STEWART GAVE IT RIGHT BACK TO THEM IN TRIPLICATE.  WATCH AND ENJOY AND WHILE YOU ARE AT IT DO WHATEVER YOU MUST DO SO THAT THESE UTTER IMBECILIC, RACIST JERKS NEVER BE ALLOWED TO WALK UP THE CAPITOL STEPS OR THROUGH THE WHITE HOUSE DOOR!!!


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/26/1332511/-Jon-Stewart-slams-Fox-News-Hannity-on-Obama-s-coffee-cup-salute-critique#

Derek Jeter Delivers

I am a Red Sox fan from my toes to my brain but this man just captured me. Derek Jeter, as Brian Williams said on the evening news last night, will walk into the Hall of Fame. I haven't read about this game winning at bat last night, Jeter's last at Yankee Stadium after a storied career because I want to see it on TV today.

This veteran Yankee great of all greats in league with Ruth, Gehrig, and DiMaggio ends his baseball career in storybook fashion. Even I, with Red Sox in my blood, love him. In these days of sports and world corruption he shines like an angel -- a principled, man. I am crying just reading the first paragraph about the game last evening.  I am sure I will be a puddle of tears when I see it on TV this morning.

Good for you Derek Jeter for giving the nation your best and for giving it a much needed moment about which to cheer for a good and honorable man. What a breath of fresh air he is amid all the bickering, anger and violence of the nation and the world.

He never married because he felt he could not give a family and children the necessary attention his big career demanded.  Even that is the soul of a great man.  He wants to marry and have a family now and I suspect he will have no trouble finding one.  The woman who shares your life, Derek Jeter, will be a lucky one. Good luck to you. This Red Sox fan says thank you very much for delivering the wining run of your final game in the House that Ruth Built.  It is a symbolic winning moment of your entire winning life!!

EXACTLY what is needed!!

http://www.npr.org/2014/09/25/351277631/prominent-muslim-sheikh-issues-fatwa-against-isis-violence?sc=17&f=1001&utm_source=iosnewsapp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=app

Prominent Muslim Sheik Issues Fatwa Against ISIS Violence

Sheik Abdullah bin Bayyah is considered one of the most influential Muslims in the world. As a respected scholar, he has issued edicts to explain why groups...

npr.org|By Dina Temple-Raston

The ISIS Crisis -- A Decision

Listening to the president's persuasive eloquence at the UN, knowing that now we have Arab allies among others in the armed coalition, and knowing this president thinks things out scrupulously I am comfortable in my support for his decision to act against ISIS and its affiliates.

The reports today from smuggled out film of the kind of humanity (if one wants to call it humanity) that ISIS, et al is I am sickened by their nauseating brutality and the monstrosity of their faux religious ideological belief if you want to call it religious belief.  Islam surely is not about that.

Another French tourist hiking in Algeria was captured by the ISIS arm of death, promptly decapitated posting the decapitation along with other unspeakable behavior after the beheading on the Internet -- the fourth beheading barbarism in a short period of time.  The other atrocities ISIS & Co. commit are enumerable.  Who could allow these monsters born from the depths of a swamp to gain the foothold they are poised to gain if not stopped?

Covering up women Taliban style is not enough for ISIS.  Women in an ISIS world would be covered in black from head to toe with NOTHING -- and I do mean NOTHING not even an eyebrow -- showing.  The outrage at these outrageous sects leads me to conclude what the president has ordered is correct.  ISIS, Inc. cannot be allowed to commit Medieval madness in the extreme.

I answered my question.  Whom do I trust?  I trust this president and the US military with Arab and other support in its attempts to rid the world of this savage and rapacious scourge no matter how long it takes. 

We can ask nothing more of our gigantic power and expect nothing less.  The US military is the only thing that stands between you and a new Dark Age!

 We naturally need to elect Democrats across the nation so the brilliance of this president can be enhanced over the next two years.  Think about what could be done and the legacy he would leave.  SIGN UP DEMOCRATS ACROSS THE NATION AND BRING THEM TO THE POLLS NO MATTER WHAT THE REPUBLICAN OBSTRUCTIONIST BRUTALITY DOES TO PREVENT IT.  DO NOT LET THEM.  OVERTHROW THROUGH OUR EXAMPLE OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS THIS REPUBLICAN NIGHTMARE AND LET THE PRESIDENT LEAD FOR THE BETTERMENT OF US, THE 98%!

Who Do You Trust?

There was a game show hosted by Johnny Carson in the early sixties called "Who Do You Trust?" (Should have been whom but I digress.)  In our time as a rationale for war who you trust is not a game show. 

I do not like war as it tends to kill lots of human beings many innocent and so I was initially against an air strike within Syria. I am still troubled by it not because the bestial behavior of ISIS, a brutally warped monstrosity, does not warrant elimination but because I simply do not know who is telling me the truth within the maze of anarchistic and religious conflict in the explosive Middle East of which this nation has been an integral and in 2002 an offending part.  Is ISIS an existential threat to the west?  Truly, is it?

The lies spun for war in this nation have been many.  I will not enumerate them now but they surely include Bush's uber lie of WMD in Iraq creating the current never-ending explosions in that neck of the woods. Some say our historical memory is short and filled with historical fluff told by the winners.

THIS time the rationales for Fear, Inc, are ISIS, ISIL and the Khorasan Group (sounds like an insurance company.)  The war may and perhaps will, as the president said, go on indefinitely.  The true dilemma is whom can I trust?

Our commander-in-chief has a brain and is surprisingly this time finding allied support from a variety of Arab states who each have their own agenda.  The words of war protestors "no more war" are like dust in the wind.  They disappear into the cacophonous sound of the media stratosphere. The media talking heads blather on with few complex points made in the space of five minutes experts are given for each topic.  Can they help it if our McDonald's nation wants news in the space of time it takes to cook a hamburger and has no patience for complexity?  If points are made by "experts" the experts often get paid handsomely as mouthpieces for one defense industry or another which is not transparent. 

Who can I trust?  I suspect I will never know so, yet again, I acquiesce to war.  In that neck of the chaotic woods filled with many who hate this nation rightfully or wrongfully can one take the chance that this president is wrong or worse lying? 

Whether the nations of the Middle East survive and build democratic states is of no concern to me.  BUT what is of concern to me is that this nation not suffer another attack and with it the possibility of nuclear peril. 

At least for now (I reserve the right to change my opinion) I will take the words of our president as truth and support him because our very lives and this nation's existence depend upon his not lying to us. 

Whom do I trust?  I still do not really know do you?

A Beautiful Quote

I have completed viewing two episodes of another Ken Burns Masterpiece -- "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History."  Teddy Roosevelt the early 20th century president has been the focus.

There are some great men and women who drop by our home for a visit, knock on the door and, while not perfect men or women, do some perfect things which help us all.  Teddy Roosevelt, I believe, was such a man -- a rough rider, a bull moose who had a violence in temperament to be sure but also possessed a softness of soul. 

He spoke the following words I thought to share because they are so poetically beautiful and profound in context.  They encapsulate a part of who he was:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

My Letter/Call to the Secret Service

I am UTTERLY APPALLED, angry and completely incredulous about the rancid Secret Service security breach of the presidential residence and I made my feelings known by calling the Secret Service which is exactly what Americans should do if they have strong feelings about something.  Do NOT keep it quiet make your voices heard.  I am sickened by this failure of the Secret Service to guard OUR  president's residence. 

This president has received more angry threats, more opposition, more Congressional Republican intransigence, more Fox News lies and bile than any president in US history.  There are those evil forces in this nation especially Republican and Tea Bag forces that want this president to fail WE MUST NOT LET THESE UGLY FORCES WIN.  We must step up to the plate and tell the Secrete Service in no uncertain terms that THEY CANNOT FAIL not even once to protect the president.

Why was the door to his residence not locked?  Why was this insane man with a knife even allowed on the grounds of the White House?  I give up my rights to the People's House when the president's security is at risk.  HE COMES FIRST, HIS SECURITY COMES FIRST and the SECURITY OF HIS FAMILY comes first. 

Secret Service GET YOUR organization in ORDER.  This is serous business and the lives of many people here and around the world are at stake. Revamp your processes.  I do not care what you do but PROTECT THIS PRESIDENT 100% and DO NOT FAIL!  Shame on you.  I am stunned and sickened by this lack of security.  GET YOUR ACT IN ORDER and do your job!

WHY YET AGAIN REPUBLICAN CONTROL OF ANYTHING IS OUT OF THE QUESTION.  GET DEMOCRATS REGISTERED AND TO THE POLLS ON NOVEMBER 4, 2014!

Democracy Now interview--Naomi Klein a must see

EXCELLENT interview by Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) of Naomi Klein.  You do not have to take my word that Naomi Klein is brilliant and spot on correct with respect our climate change catastrophe.  See the interview of her below and a link to her book "This Changes Everything Capitalism v. The Climate" and .... then ACT!

here or http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/9/18/naomi_klein_on_motherhood_geoengineering_climate

Her book "This Changes Everything Capitalism Vs. The Climate" is at the link below or here.


http://www.naomiklein.org/main

The Roosevelts--An Intimate History

ANOTHER REASON TO GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE.  KEEP FDR ALIVE. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THE ONLY VEHICLE FOR THAT.  SIGN UP TO VOTE ALL MINORITIES, AFRICAN AMERICANS, HISPANICS, WOMEN, THE YOUNG, THE DISABLED, THE ELDERLY AND ALL THOSE YEARNING FOR JUSTICE.  VOTE WHETHER REPUBLICANS TRY TO OBSTRUCT YOU FROM ENJOYING YOUR BASIC FREEDOM OR NOT--THE RIGHT TO VOTE.  PASS THIS AROUND TO ANY YOU CHOOSE!

"The Roosevelts--An Intimate History" is FABULOUS PBS programming by Ken Burns.  Again and again Ken Burns staggers me with his brilliant documentarian efforts from "Baseball" to "The Civil War" and to now to "The Roosevelts--An Intimate History." How much genius can exist in one man?   (See links to info below.)

I ignore my boycott of certain PBS programming which I see may not be influenced by the Koch Brothers. I continue to boycott PBS by not contributing money and not viewing that which I know is influenced by Koch's, in my view, hostile takeover of PBS and NOT polluted by Koch billionaire right wing extremist money. I'm waiting for PBS to air "Citizen Koch" which, of course, was squelched.  Maybe then I will rethink my stand.

Thank you, Ken Burns, for this masterpiece about a family I adore. I make no secrete of loving, especially, FDR. I went to Hyde Park to see his home and his presidential library.  I saw FDR's, Eleanor's and their dog Fala's graves.  I stood there and cried for a nation that once was on a trajectory for helping the 98% but has morphed now into an ugly Republican oligarchic takeover by the 1% richest. Even Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, wanted a more egalitarian nation and his trust busting emanated from that much to the chagrin of his own Patrician class.

How I long for the leadership of the Roosevelt era. The social conditions were nasty but the leadership reached Olympian Heights. My FDR, whom I never knew except through my parents' eyes, I love him even now. May someone come along as great as he to save our nation from the oligarchic obstructionist Republican reign of terror nightmare of division it is. I keep looking for that leader but do not see him/her ... yet!

See link here or http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts

Can't we all just get along?

It is hard in today's Dickensian-like hard times to find some levity.  The only metaphor for our times I could think of was the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz who, when dying as water was splashed on her, said "I'm melting.  I'm melting."  And the world is in fact global climate change melting.

Beyond that sad fact if one looks at a map there is conflict in countries seemingly everywhere.  I have never experienced in my lifetime an entire world at war until a reasonable facsimile of it seems to exist now.  My list does not even mention the soon-to-be-vote of Scottish secession and maybe even a revolt in Spain.

"What a world, what a world" said the wicked witch as she was melting in the Land of Oz.  What a world, indeed!

Can't we all just get along?  Did Oz's Dorothy or Glenda the Good Witch say that?  No, I think I did!

Thanks to "Wars in the World" here or at the link below are the hotspots:

It lists the following plus other in depth enumerations which I will not, of course, include:

By continent: 

Africa

Hot Spots: Central African Republic (civil war), Democratic Republic of Congo (war against rebel groups), Egypt (popular uprising against Government), Mali (war against tuareg and Islamic militants), Nigeria (war against Islamic militants), Somalia (war against Islamic militants), Sudan (war against rebel groups), South Sudan (civil war)

ASIA

Afghanistan (war against Islamic militants), Burma-Myanmar (war against rebel groups), Pakistan (war against Islamic militants), Philippines (war against Islamic militants), Thailand (coup d’etat by army May 2014)

EUROPE

Chechnya (war against Islamic militants), Dagestan (war against Islamic militants), Ukraine (Secession of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic)

MIDDLE EAST MAYHEM

Hot Spots: Iraq (war against Islamic State Islamic militants), Israel (war in Gaza Strip), Syria (civil war), Yemen (war against and between Islamic militants) and Somalia.

Not to be forgotten:  The US led coalition to bomb ISIS/ISIL in Iraq and Syria -- GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!  And then what?

 AMERICAS

(5 Countries and 25 between drug cartels, militias-guerrillas, separatist groups and anarchic groups involved)

Hot Spots: Colombia (war against rebel groups), Mexico (war against narcotraffic groups)

How important is a vote for Democrats?   VERY.  Republicans never met a war they did not love or an issue of war fear it did not want to promote!  GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE in November 4, 2014 STOP REPUBLICON OBSTRUCTIONISM TO OUR BASIC DEMOCRATIC  RIGHT -- THE RIGHT TO VOTE!!!

http://www.warsintheworld.com/?page=static1258254223

LION KISSES!!!

 On a HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY note, the video below is GORGEOUS. How much do I love our four legged beauties --- A LOT. Save our lovely environment vote REPUGLICRATS OUT of office!


here or


http://www.vitality101.com/Fun/lion-kisses-rescuer

Stream of conscious--GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE:

How anyone on this planet can vote for the RepublCON Party I will NEVER on planet earth know. These 1%ers have those Baggers who support them utterly, totally significantly DUPED.

Send this around if you want. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE urge African Americans ALL OVER THE NATION to sign up to vote no matter how many rotten obstacles these VILE obstructionist Republicrats put in their way. IMPORTANTLY HISPANICS MUST, MUST, MUST, MUST get out to vote. Immigration reform will come later when the president can do it IF we can finally get a majority in both houses. Democrats HAVE the majority of the populous but in the mid terms some in the electorate, mind explosive to me, do not think it important to vote. That is a recipe for disaster.

DO WHAT YOU CAN BUT GET OUR DEMOCRATIC VOTERS ALONG WITH INDEPENDENTS WHO MIGHT VOTE DEMOCRATIC OUT TO VOTE: GET HISPANICS, AFRICAN AMERICANS, WOMEN, THE YOUNG, THE ELDERLY WHO DEPEND ON SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE, HEALTHCARE AND ALL THOSE WHO ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE 1% RICHEST WHO ARE MAKING A HOSTILE TAKEOVER OUT TO REGISTER AND VOTE. DEMOCRATS MUST GET OUT THE VOTE. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT A REPUBLICAN HOUSE AND A REPUBLICAN SENATE WILL DO TO US AND TO OUR PRESIDENT. HE WILL FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES BE DONE. DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. A PRESIDENT WITH CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT WOULD MAKE THIS COUNTRY THRIVE.

TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS IS REALLY TRICKLE UP TO THE 1%; UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATIONCREATES SPENDING WHICH CREATES JOBS AS DOES UPPING THE MINIMUM WAGE AS DOES INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIR AND ON AND ON TO DO WHAT GOVERNMENT AND ONLY GOVERNMENT CAN DO. DEMOCRATS KNOW THIS!

OUR COUNTRY WILL DIE UNDER A HOSTILE REPUBLICAN TAKEOVER AND WE THE MAJORITY 98% WILL DIE WITH IT! YOU, YOUR CHILDREN AND FUTURE GENERATIONS DESERVE BETTER. CONTRIBUTE AND SIGN UP DEMOCRATS AND GET THEM OUT TO VOTE!

Can't Get Fooled Again

After 9/11 I was angry as most here were.  Although a lifelong anti-war liberal Democrat I took the attack by Al Qaeda and the horrific heap of metal and pile of bodies it left personally as if I, too, had lost a loved one in the attack.  It was exactly what Al Qaeda wanted us to feel -- anger.  My fury like so many others could not be quelled.

When W. Bush stood on the fresh pile of 9/11 rubble in New York and said

"I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"

a cheer ran through me as if, since Vietnam, I never protested a war at all.  I wanted revenge and watched the explosions from my TV at work set up for that express purpose so that we could watch the US bomb Sadam Hussein and Iraq into oblivion.  It was as if I were watching a July 4th fireworks display.  No dead bodies from the bombing, of course, were shown but simply a night sky beautifully lit up like Francis Scott Key was sitting at Ft. McHenry writing the words to the Star Spangled Banner, our national Overture, written about our flag from afar during the 1812 War and British invasion.

We now know that the Bush/Cheney administration and all of its cronies took us to a hellish 13 year hardly short Iraq War based on lies. Sadam Hussein hated Al Qaeda which was not even in Iraq until AFTER the US invasion.  There were no WMD, the trumped-up lie that gave the necessary rationale for war the US could peddle to the UN.  We were NOT greeted as the liberators the Cons said we would be. 

The Cons conned us into a 5000+ American dead war because no one -- not the people, not the Congress, and surely not the media -- thought critically to ask the critical questions about the trillion buck war which was supposed to pay for itself but still in religious war form rages.  ISIS, the more brutal Al Qaeda offshoot, never there before is there now, and has become the latest rationale for war and perceived-by-us threat as it blasts its way toward a territorial huge Islamic caliphate. 

Again, we are being asked by our previously anti-war president to go back into a war we just left by first sending more planes to bomb and more advisers to advise failed states.  The only thing sure is more of us will die.

Are we not asking the hard questions again?  It seems not as the desire to bomb is now supported by 67% of the US population.  Sometimes there is no answer that will correct a problem. The cancer the president describes correctly is the nature of ISIS and it is exactly that -- a religious century’s long cancerous dispute that continues in a part of an Arab Spring world which looks nothing like spring and more like eternal war that will continue generationally.

Like some cancers sometimes one must face facts no matter how much one "fights" it will ultimately return.  And so it will be with ISIS; no matter how many are killed more will take their place.  Americans with their white hat black hat world view cannot understand that it is not as simple as kill the bad guys. The “bad guys" always return and worse the hats the Arabs see us wearing are colored black and used as proof the west wants to defeat Islam their sacred creed.  We cannot understand that because we are fed our own propaganda from a corporate media that slants its news to feed its hungry advertisers to get us to watch.

I am VERY skeptical of it all. I have been third degree burned once angered after 9/11 because I accepted W. Bush's horrific Iraq war based on lies. Now should I get burned again because explosive religious war bombasts decide to do what comes naturally to them and behead two journalists who took a huge reporting risk going to a tinderbox morass to report on a group that propagandizes them by killing them horrifically and placing it on YouTube?

America should think well on what it does before it becomes involved in an eternal generational conflict which will kill our own and sap whatever resources we have left. 

The Middle East we KNOW is about oil, the fuel of life.  We have needed desperately to get off it as an addict hooked on heroin needs to get clean.  Oil kills not only us in war but pollutes our earth we need to live destroying it through climate change and filth.  Alternative sources of energy must be developed quickly and oil ultimately ditched to get the Middle East heroin monkey off our backs.

Before we begin on our latest war venture as George Bush so in-eloquently put it:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

For once I agree!

Moulton the Magnificent

Those who do not care about Massachusetts politics you can ignore this but mark my words -- as either being out on Planet Pluto or presciently correct.  You will have to wait until 2020 to see if I am.  I will be, well who the heck knows where I'll be, but I will say this anyway.

I know Seth Moulton is not even in my district.  I don't care I am giving a shout out to this man whom I never even gave a first thought never mind a second to.  He did something big AND he is a fabulous candidate for the 6th District of Mass. He unseated a nearly two decades Congressman Tierney from the 6th.  This is why I love politics especially when someone comes from out of nowhere to win.  (Republican rhymes with town, of course, an exception!)  Seth Moulton did just that and he is a Democrat.

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself but I will say it anyway.  This man is going places.  That district is his I predict for as long as he wants it.  I see a halo of Jack Kennedy II above his head.  Seth Moulton is a former Marine, a Philips Academy alum and Harvard grad to boot with a major in physics and -- excuse the looksist comment -- he is stunning.  Am I dreaming?  This is why I love Massachusetts and its all blue Congress -- Warren and Moulton, et al Nirvana.

Until he proves otherwise, I LOVE THIS GUY and say a big congrats to the 6th District that finally found a worthy man! 

Saving Lives

It is comforting to know there are still honorable people working for what we, as a nation, should want -- humane, ethical good government.  We should accept nothing less.  Through hard work we MUST NOT and will NOT give Republicons the victories they are so assured they will get.

Onward to electing Democrats throughout the land and nationally holding the majority in the US Senate.  How phenomenal too if the miracle of flipping the House Democratic occurred.  Okay so maybe that is a bit much -- NO it isn't.  We deserve the excellence of leadership that in our time exists solely within the Democratic Party, a Party whose platform includes caring about the poor, valuing  science, a Party that is diverse and a Party that cares for those who cannot care for themselves.  It is a Party which will create jobs, infrastructure and a host of other things because of Republican obstructionism we cannot do.

It is honorable to be a liberal, honorable to be progressive and ever-so-honorable to be a Democrat.  Do not falter and do not fail, as the drought stricken California proves science correct. Science is the only method to arrive at truth and is correct more times then it is not. Global climate man-induced climate change is a fact and we know Republicans through their corporate masters want to keep business as usual.  Don't let them!

Elect Democrats across the nation and save lives!

The Laws of Physics

'THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE'

THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE NON NEGOTIABLE!!!  Click on the link to this story.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/

House of Cards -- A Winning Hand

Keven Spacey, Robin Wright and a host of other actors did what I thought was the impossible -- create a series I love more than "Mad Men."  Okay, so the two series are completely different artistic endeavors but I have a yardstick for how I rate the excellence of a film or series no matter which genre into which it falls.  I won't hold you in suspense, my yardstick is how many times I look at my watch.  Through this series the only reason to look at the clock was in hope that the hour did not draw too late so I would have to curtail my viewing.

I am a binge watcher of "House of Cards" and now have some idea even though I do not drink nor have I ever taken drugs of what pull addiction has on one's brain.  I cannot stop watching this series.  It is about Washington and its Machiavellian machinations guaranteed to glue you to the seat even if things political are not your cup of tea.  Perhaps you enjoy playing cards instead.  If so, this series is the most winning hand you will ever play.  I highly recommend it!

Martha Coakley--A Governor who can Win

Someone asked me if there was a Republican in the Massachusetts gubernatorial race whom one could consider. I told her in our time the two Parties are, sadly, diametrically opposed to one another.  It means something now if one is a Democrat or if one is Republican.  There is, therefore, in my opinion, never a good reason to vote Republican because if one votes Republican one is voting for a conservative social agenda and destructive economic policies as well.  If one is Republican one must strictly adhere to the party line.  It means they are against marriage equality, against a woman's right to choose, pro NRA and the expansion of gun owners' rights even when it means the right to carry in a classroom and even in a church.  If one votes Republican one would be voting for a strong religious influence in government and away from the Constitutional Separation of church-state Clause. 

Adding to that, one would be voting science deniers into office, one would be voting for those who want to keep the division of wealth in favor of the 1% by supporting tax law that shrinks the middle class.  If one votes Republican one would be voting for taking an ax to government programs that support the poor, the disabled, and the elderly.  One would be voting for a Party that supports ultimately an end to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as we know it. 

Republicans are against the strict regulation of Wall Street and government oversight of the big banks.  They support trickledown economics which has never worked.  One would vote for a Party that shut down government and is threatening to do that again.  The Republican Party would even vote against raising of the debt ceiling so America could not pay its bills send us into default and the world into chaos.  It is a Party that wasted taxpayer money voting to eradicate the Affordable Health Care Act 57 times offering nothing to take its place.  It is a Party that cares nothing about most of you.

The Republican code words are "small government" but that really means few government programs and oversight agencies except for the military as most Republicans never met a war they did not like.

If one votes or is Republican one sinks or swims on one’s own with no one but no one to help you out in times of trouble in an economic system, mostly Republican-created that has provided plenty of trouble for the middle class with it. 

I want a Democrat in the Governor’s office who will oppose all those aforementioned Republican policies.  I want Martha Coakley as governor because she is an experienced Democrat, she is smart, and she is progressive.  She has proven that many times.  I think she is capable and best of all she is a Democrat who can WIN against the Republican Baker in the general election.  I, therefore, unequivocally and for all those reasons passionately support Martha Coakley for governor of Massachusetts.

The Seriousnes of Our Time

I am critical of US policy to a point.  History is necessary to know but, while understanding its message, it is important to live in its present.

 

However critical one might wax against the west one must make a value judgment for our time.  Is the west sinless?  Absolutely it is not.  Is western democratic free thought and its separation between church state crafted over Renaissance centuries better than anything else the world has seen so far? Yes, it is!

 

The penchant to gain so called caliphate power by those who are said to pervert Islam with unconscionable violence MUST be stopped.  There is no other way as their zest for compromise is nonexistent.  Nearly overnight the bestial ISIS/ISIL seemed to form as the Middle East through George Bush's so called "preemptive war" destabilized an already unstable tinderbox region and now is descending into madness. Worse, some very unstable states have nukes.

 

As man is prone the Islamic Spring which seemed so hopeful at first quickly morphed into the most extreme chaos since the barbarity of WWII.  It happened during the French Revolution, it happened after the Russian Revolution, and it happens after most revolutions where man wants to vie for immense power, wealth and change through revolutionary tactics and makes brutal war over it.  Revolution's propaganda for those who want to perpetrate it is their tool.

 

It is the Orwellian law of revolution the brilliant George Orwell in his book "Animal Farm" instructs.  Through his animal farm metaphor and the overthrow of Farmer Jones (a brutal and oppressive human) by the animals -- the pigs -- he creates their new world order with its rallying cry:  "All animals are equal!" That mantra quickly devolves into "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." As stated in Wiki:

Years pass, and the pigs start to resemble humans, as they walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are abridged to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". Napoleon (the leader of the Pigs) holds a dinner party for them and local farmers, with whom he celebrates a new alliance. He abolishes the practice of the revolutionary traditions and restores the name "The Manor Farm." As the animals look from pigs to humans, they realize they can no longer distinguish between the two.

The people, fodder of revolutions, ultimately get jackbooted to the side and/or killed as power solidifies itself through Robespierreian terror and tyranny.  We cannot and we must not let this happen in our time yet again.

 

Indeed, I believe, with all our frailties this nation is the world's last best hope for civilized government no matter how many policy errors it makes.  It is amazing what our Founders wrought and that it has lived as long as it has where change can be perfected by law that civilizes man and averts violence.  Our Founding Documents are precious because they are a road map over time to peaceful change. I recognize even more their life sustaining importance when a threat to them is hovering over our world like the Angel of Death cloud and headed for our doorstep.

 

One must hope we with our allies are able to contain this latest Middle East menace for world domination taking humanity back to a new Dark Age with medieval tactics.  No matter how much my compatriots on the left are critical of our nation they are in error to always think it wrong. 

I paste a "Slate" article by William Saletan below to reflect the seriousness of our time and what we must do.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/09/don_t_watch_isis_s_murder_of_steven_sotloff_honor_him_by_remembering_the.html

The Artful Arti-T -- The Market Basket Miracle

I have lots of thoughts about American business or lack of it and a logarithm that supports  employees, the consumers that purchase goods and one that thinks of stockholders and CEO's bottom line after them.  The rich can live as well with less.  The worker bees and consumers can live decently if the rich accept just a little less.  A thriving middle class is formed exactly in this way and this above anything else is why people risk their lives to get here.

Market Basket is an example of a wonderful marketing coup which should be taught in business schools and copied by other big businesses and chains everywhere.  It was done with no unions just loyalty to a man CEO Arti-T who deserved it because he cared about those he employed and the consumers who buy what he sells.

I shopped there on Sunday and it was packed with goods and customers. I wanted to hug everyone -- Arti-T, the staff and the customers.  More goods will be filling the shelves completely.  I urge you to support this consumer friendly store and be the beginning of a movement!  My food costs are 1/2 less shopping there than shopping anywhere else. 

Arti-T is genius.  He and all of us have done something amazing.  Business may and should  never be the same.  Arti-T's formula WORKS to make millions and still be a caring and humane entity doing something for workers and consumers who need to save a buck. 

Change, I have been told, comes from the bottom up and Arti-T knew how important his staff and patrons were so he worked at giving us lower lower-than-any-other-market costs and excellent quality to boot while he offered good benefits to his workers. People beat a path to his door.  What could be bad about the success of that?

Arti-T thank you SO much!  The win of Market Basket's Arti-T is the first good news in a long, long, long time.Yes, it and he will need our support and I am betting that both Arti-T and Market Basket will get it.

Natalie Rosen
39 Swift Road
Framingham, MA 01702
(508) 879-4170

What Could Have Been

I try to hold the passion down but I just cannot help it. There is SO much at stake for Democrats to GET OUT THE VOTE IN NOVEMBER 2014 and I simply cannot stand that for which Republicans stand.  Sure I know that Democrats, too, are beholden to monied interests yes, people are often not in things for their health.   But no one can convince me that there is no difference between the two parties.  There is, it is huge now and white racism comprises much of the Republican Party of the 1% all one needs to do is look at it.  

IF the president in 2010 had a Democratic House and Senate think about all the things that could have been done.  It is big and a minimum wage would have been one of them and stronger reform of Wall Street.  There would have been no government shutdowns and no debt ceiling scare tactics, there would have been the wealthy paying more taxes and the middle class paying less so the deficit would have gone down even more than it already has and it HAS gone down under the president. 

Roads, bridges, and infrastructure would have been fixed, the national grid would have been updated AND climate change would have been addressed as would alternative energy sources.  Another stimulus would have created many more jobs and the economy would have improved more.  Most importantly a change of just ONE just one more progressive on the Court and gd Citizen's United would be reversed, unlimited money taken out of the political realm maybe the oligarchy government by the rich which we have now would not be.  Reform of the tax code and business avoidance of taxes rectified.  And maybe there even would have been single payer health system which REALLY would work for the people.  Women's rights would have been strengthened and the right to choose upheld.  More egalitarian judges installed and appointments not delayed.  AND A FAIR RIGHT TO CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRANT BILL PASSED!  Attention paid to state and local governments turning them Democrat blue.

There would have been much less criticism of the president making us stronger and more unified.  Sounds like heaven doesn't it?  Yep it does and that is why the Democratic Party must win as our nation is, I believe, in trouble.

Just think about what our nation COULD have been had Bush the moron not been illegally installed as president -- NO 9/11, NO Osama bin Laden, and especially NO fraudulent lying war in Iraq. And most of all a Middle East NOT in turmoil.  Thousands of lives would have been saved. Imagine....well, we must deal with what we have and Republican policies will create more gridlock and will add more fuel to the fire of an already nearly unrecognizably burned war weary nation! GET OUT THE 2014 NOVEMBER DEMOCRATIC VOTE AND YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL or AT LEAST SOME OF IT and do something with the two years left!!

GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE AND WATCH US WIN!!!

I have one sentence to all of you as I see and nearly explode as the Globe tries to make the NH senate race close by saying the NH Senate race between Shaheen and Brown "heats up."  

Heats up my posterior.  Jeanne Shaheen without question MUST win and WILL win SIGNIFICANTLY as Democrats CAN sweep all over the nation.  Republicans are a bankrupt party with NOTHING to offer.  So here is my one phase:  GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE ALL OVER THE NATION.

DEMOCRATS WILL WIN IF YOU DO as we have the young, we have women, we have the elderly, we have African Americans, and we have Hispanics.  What more do we need?  WE NEED TO GET OUT THE [blank] VOTE, sit back and watch the Democratic victories across the nation if you do!!!

The Artful Arti-T and the Miracle of Market Basket

What the Market Basket has done was the GREATEST marketing coup of all time done with no unions just loyalty to a man Arti-T who deserved it.  I was just there shopping today in Ashland and it was packed. I simply wanted to hug everyone -- Arti, the staff and the customers.  More goods will be coming.  I urge you to support this consumer friendly store and be the beginning of a movement!

Get rid of the supermarket you shop at and find a Market Basket.  My bills are 1/2 less than everywhere else.  Arti-T is a genius.  I LOVE that man.  He and all of us have done something amazing.  Business may and SHOULD never be the same.  I have LOTS of thoughts about the sad state of American business and ideas of what the young and business savvy person can do about it. Arti-T's formula WORKS to make millions and still be a caring humane person and do something for people who need it!  Change comes from the bottom up and Arti-T knew how important his staff and patrons were.

Arti-T thank you SO much!  First good news I have heard in a long long long time.