Day: July 29, 2016

“No More War! No More War!”

I admit that I have been watching the Dem convention….most of it was silly and a waste of time….but there was a bright spot on the last day….chants of “No more war” rang out…unfortunately they were shouted down by the Hawks in the party with chants of Hillary!  Hillary!  Hillary!

Chanting “No more war!” a cadre of anti-war protesters Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention disrupted former U.S. Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Leon Panetta’s speech Wednesday to denounce U.S. militarism.

In a prime time address, Panetta praised the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, as the only one to have a solid plan to defeat the Islamic State group. But only a few minutes in, Panetta was interrupted by a chorus of Bernie Sanders’ delegates in the crowd.

I have been a staunch anti-war person for decades…..it began after my introduction to the obscenity of the Vietnam War….I have been writing anti-war post since I began this site.

It was a good feeling to hear the magic words again…..it has been too long and the time is now for a new anti-war movement…..I mean this country is using our troops in some 120+ countries….we are fighting conflicts that need not be fought by the US….

Once again I call on my friends who feel that we are fighting too many wars to help start this new movement…..

Why can’t we have a planet where we find nurturing each other more of a turn on than killing each other, a planet where education means learning the truth not memorizing the lies, a planet where caring instead of fear is used to motivate action.

While the Republican snakepit known as their convention continued to bat us between revulsion and fascination, we lost track of one important thing. They—the Republican leadership and their mad dog cheering section—mean it. They use fear and more fear to convince us that we need war and more war. The locks are off the door and the inmates are running the asylum…and when they insist that the enemy—which includes just about anybody who is not lily white, and preferably Christian—is about to devour us, it appears we have two choices:

  • Lock our doors, hide in the basement, disappear under burkas or choice, or
  • Start a counter movement so positive, so powerful, so defining that the hate mongers are driven back into the dark hole where they belong.

Source: New Peace Movement on Steroids Needed Now! – LA Progressive

Please help bring sanity back to US foreign policy…..

This election will do little to end our numerous wars….if anything it will give us more conflicts and more chances for our troops to fight and die…..

By all means vote this November….but for the love of God think about the troops and the wars we are fighting before you cast that vote…..then make a decision that needs to be made.

Dem “Gong Show”–The Finale

Finally the misery of the convention has ended….did so by Chelsea Clinton (candidate in waiting) introduced her mother so that she could officially accept the nomination of the Democratic Party.

The nomination was opened up with a “lollipop and rainbows” speech…..

“It is with humility, determination, and boundless confidence in America’s promise that I accept your nomination for president of the United States,” Hillary Clinton told the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, delivering a fiery acceptance speech that cast herself as a unifier who can keep America safe, and Donald Trump as a dangerous, blustering con man. Five of her best lines:

  • “It’s true,” Clinton said. “I sweat the details of policy—whether we’re talking about the exact level of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the number of mental health facilities in Iowa, or the cost of your prescription drugs. Because it’s not just a detail if it’s your kid, if it’s your family. It’s a big deal. And it should be a big deal to your president.”
  • “We’re going to give small businesses a boost. Make it easier to get credit,” said Clinton, who promised that creating more jobs with rising wages would be her primary mission. “Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks.”
  • “Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis,” Clinton said after skewering Trump’s foreign policy pronouncements. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
  • “I’m not here to repeal the Second Amendment,” she said after turning to domestic policy. “I’m not here to take away your guns. I just don’t want you to be shot by someone who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place.”
  • “I’m here to tell you tonight—progress is possible,” she said. “I know because I’ve seen it in the lives of people across America who get knocked down and get right back up. And I know it from my own life. More than a few times, I’ve had to pick myself up and get back in the game.” After getting one of her biggest cheers of the night, she added that her mother had taught her to never back down and that “you have to stand up to bullies.”

“Yes, the world is watching what we do. Yes, America’s destiny is ours to choose. So let’s be stronger together,” she said in conclusion. “Looking to the future with courage and confidence. Building a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country. When we do, America will be greater than ever,” Clinton said before she was joined on stage by Tim Kaine, followed by what the Guardian describes as a “fireworks waterfall” and a “balloon blizzard.”

5 things and not one of them is a solution to a problem….but I did not expect anyone to be serious about “fixing” the country.

The misery of the endless showboating of the convention is over and now we have two officially accepted candidates and the 2016 election is off and running for real….no more theatrics now they must convince the voter that they are the candidate for them……that their lives will be better for the vote….. (sorry I was laughing so hard I farted a bit)…..

All in all this was the best Republican Convention I have ever witnessed (please do not correct I know what I wrote)….it covered all the GOP talking points….sugary family values, kissed Israel’s ass, promised more war and interventions,  taxes blah-blah, small business etc…..perfect GOP.

Mercifully it is over and now I can return to the stuff of real life…..I prefer news to theater…..

“Selling Past The Close”

For months now we have been bombarded with all sorts of fuzzy and warm anecdotes about Clinton….in 2008 she sold herself as a tough no nonsense politician and that was a losing battle….this time around we are sold on the idea that she is warm and fuzzy where family is everything and that society needs to be more woman friendly…..this time around the “warm and fuzzy” sold her to the voters and now she is the Dems official candidate for president of the United States.

Even through the convention the powers that be keep selling her as this idyllic person all warm and fuzzy….her hubby gave a romance novel of a speech about their meeting and courtship….and most other speakers kept going along the same lines that she has been taunting since the beginning of the primary stuff…..

All that is just great but is it possible that she and her cronies have pushed that fairy tale too far?

Hillary Clinton already can be congratulated on accomplishing a major feat: She’s made it clear that a woman can be president, writes Dilbert creator Scott Adams on his blog. That glass ceiling is gone, whether she wins or loses in November, and “that’s a big, big deal.” But Adams thinks Clinton risks a big strategic mistake related to the concept of “selling past the close.” It’s the idea that “once the sale is made, you need to stop selling, because you have no chance of making things better, but you might give the buyer a reason to change her mind.” She’s already won this argument and thus there’s no need to keep hammering away at it. And yet she keeps doing so, which could alienate undecided male voters in a big way.

Adams contrasts the situation to President Obama’s eight years ago. Generally speaking, once the public was sold on the idea that a black man could be president, he moved on to topics other than race. Clinton, on the other hand, “keeps selling,” he writes. “And that’s an enormous persuasion mistake.” Adams makes the scientific case that the testosterone levels of men watching the convention are surely dropping—literally. The festivities are likely making them unhappy, even if they’re unsure why, and eventually they’ll make the association. After all, they’re observing a celebration of their “permanently diminished” role in society. All of which leaves him “wondering if this will be the first time in history that we see a candidate’s poll numbers plunge after a convention.” Click for the full post.

Maybe now the Dems will lay off the syrupy crap and get down to talking about solutions…..if not she may have turned off the voter….I mean after all she is not that likable….she cannot afford to lose any more likability.

Free Speech and Political Conventions

These days the blogs are full of someone claiming that the freedom of speech is somehow either being infringed upon or will be if certain people are elected….I have even read articles about how some of the rights of protesters at these conventions have been stomped on by the security people….

This summer, we have all witnessed the heavy hand of government intervening in the freedom of speech, as the behavior of the Secret Service at both the Republican convention in Cleveland and the Democratic convention in Philadelphia was troubling and unconstitutional.

Though the First Amendment was originally written only to restrain Congress (“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech”), it is now uniformly interpreted to restrict all government in America from abridging the freedom of speech.

The reason this freedom is referred to as “the” freedom of speech is to reflect the belief of the Framers that the right to speak freely is pre-political. Stated differently, the freedom of speech is an integral aspect of our humanity. The government does not grant the freedom of speech; it is prohibited from interfering with it.

Source: Free Speech and Political Conventions – Antiwar.com Blog

I hope that some writers realize that free speech means for everyone…..not just people that agree with a certain point of view….all agree that free speech is essential but in the same breath try to insult any opponents into silence…..what part of free speech is it that confuses them?