Sunday, June 12, 2016

Amazing Ferns!

29 comments:

  1. Ah, "Dave" is such a fine movie...

    Alan

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    1. Agreed! And fun!

      We own a copy.

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    2. Yes! "Dave" is one of my multiple-times-watched movies.

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  2. Via politicalwire.com:
    Bernie Sanders said that he plans to meet Hillary Clinton late Tuesday, The Hill [Click] reports.
    Sanders said he wants to get a sense of what kind of platform Clinton will be supporting and “whether she will be vigorous in standing up for working families and the middle class, moving aggressively in climate change, healthcare for all, making public colleges and universities tuition-free.”
    He added: “After we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong and progressive platform, I will be able to make other decisions.”

    —Alan

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  3. Bernie! Wait until all the CA votes are in! Don't be like Al Gore and walk away when you're the actual winner!

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  4. Bernie! Wait! Wait! Hillary is holding a football. Don't kick it!! Don't believe her that she'll hold it there for you.

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  5. I have permission to post this here. After I mentioned to my friend Janice, who was school counselor, that one thing nobody seems to be talking about is that if Hillary gets (s)elected then Bill Clinton will be back at the White House. I do not want him anywhere near the White House. His lack of consideration for his fiduciary-relationship responsibilities (i.e., his messing around with an intern in the Oval Office) and lying about it, lead to loss of the election for Al Gore and 8 years of GWB. But, never mind, he's charming, right? Charming enough to worm his way inside polling places to sway the vote. But that's okay, right? Because he's charming. Well, my rant lead to Janice not being able to sleep until she wrote this. [BTW, before leaving for Thailand as Peace Corps volunteers, Janice and her husband volunteered at Bernie HQ.]

    Dear Bernie,

    I am so proud to be part of the people's revolution that you initiated for all Americans.
    I have a major concern that has not been discussed or even addressed in this campaign. It probably would be looked at as politically incorrect, or biased, or inappropriate, or any of the many labels one would choose. However, as a Teacher, Licensed Mental Health Counselor retired and now a Peace Corps Volunteer serving my second tour of duty I need to bring up this fact.
    I lived through the Bill Clinton Presidency and found him to be a liar, a man with deviant sexual behavior and down right disgusting.
    I know you have stated that you do not want to see Donald Trump anywhere near the White House. Well quite frankly I do not want to see Bill Clinton anywhere near the White House either.
    I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton even if you endorse her. How could I tell my daughters in one breath that Donald Trump is a predator towards women and then tell them I am voting for a woman whose husband is the same. This goes against my morals and integrity for all women around the earth that have been abused and blamed.
    I have supported your campaign by volunteering from the first day you announced your candidacy and continue to support you financially while serving in PC Thailand. I will continue to work hard for the progressive cause but I WILL NOT VOTE for Hillary Clinton. I have to set the example for my grown daughters and grand daughter and all the abused children and women I provided counseling services to throughout my career in Vermont and now PC Thailand.

    Sincerely,

    Janice Solek-Tefft MA CMHC
    RPCV Ghana 2012-2014
    PCV Thailand

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  6. I agree wholeheartedly with Janice. A man like Clinton, who uses women as sex toys, has no business being returned to the White House in ANY capacity. That Hillary chose to stay with him after his behavior was revealed made me lose all respect for her. She basically gave him carte blanche for his behavior past present and future. I still believe she remained in the marriage ONLY because it furthered her own political ambitions. And I have seen how Monica Lewinsky's life was pretty much destroyed while Bill just went on wreaking havoc with no consequences at all. So the combo of Bill and Hill lacks ALL appeal for me and I'm still not going to vote for her and I am fixed in that decision.

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  7. Neither can I abide Bill in the White House, and I agree that it appears HRC stuck with him in order to satisfy her political greed--not just post-Lewinsky, but in Arkansas too. I think [I am willing to stand corrected should it be in order] that it is a warped feminism to award the Presidency to someone who has not made her own political way (e.g., Jennifer Granholm or Kathleen Sibelius). But I must admit there certainly have been such men--Chester Arthur comes to mind.

    I am shocked by Obama's public statement that HRC is the most qualified person ever to stand for the Presidency. Such obvious rubbish forever tarnishes his accomplishments (notably getting Romneycare through Congress) in my estimate. I doubt that HRC has it in her to be another Chester Arthur; I can only hope that she has it in her to do better than James Buchanan (whom I believe to have been the most recent and perhaps only former Secretary of State to be elected President so far).

    Politicians Keep Their Word [Click] Makes me wonder what HRC has actually promised--it would be typical for her to couch any such things in weasel words to give herself an out, in my opinion.

    --Alan

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    1. Hmmm.... "(e.g., Jennifer Granholm or Kathleen Sibelius)" is not clear. I meant them as examples of women who have made their own political way rather than by hitching their wagons to their husbands. I think HRC would bear at least some comparison to Lurleen Wallace.

      Alan

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    2. I knew what you meant.

      Don't let my mother hear you say that. According to her, the sun, moon and stars rise and set out of HRC's arss. More than that, she *deserves* the presidency and any woman who doesn't agree and doesn't vote for her is a disgrace to womankind. *sigh* It gets pretty tiresome.

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    3. Between my mother being an HRC cultist and my father believing absolutely everything the hate media feed him, not to mention my sister being hopelessly naive politically and thinking, among other things, that HRC is wonderful, my conversational opportunities are pretty limited at home.

      Spent yesterday afternoon at Patty and Peter's. Donno what Peter thinks, but apparently Patty has drunk the HRC koolade. She brought up the subject kind of obliquely and I changed the subject ASAP. There is absolutely no point trying to engage. She is an immovable object and I was having too nice an afternoon to want to raise my blood pressure.

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    4. It isn't worth the candle, Cat; discretion is not infrequently the better part of valor. My wife's family voted Socialist for probably fifty years; I don't know how they have been voting since the Japanese Socialist Party imploded. They lived in Kanagawa Prefecture (includes Yokohama, on the south side of Tokyo Bay), which voted reliably Socialist and had some notably better social services than many other prefectures--free ambulance service comes to mind. My boss sees things politically about as I do, and makes a point of canceling his principal other's vote. Things are pretty copacetic for me, but I don't talk politics with our neighbors--they are generally a rather benighted lot--not all, but mostly. Our daughter went to UC Berkeley, which is nowhere near as left-wingy as it used to be, but she got at least a touch of that old-time religion there. And what could your mother possibly have against Lurleen Wallace?

      It is so nice to have a friendly meeting place here.

      Alan

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  8. I have discovered computer games I can actually play, Jewel Match 3 and Bejeweled 2 deluxe. Bejeweled is better, being simpler, without an artificially imposed storyline. It's just games and puzzles...which I can understand and play, even some of the timed ones. So, I'm going to go play and let the rest of the world take care of itself for the evening.

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  9. Bernie spoke at a press conference outside his house following today's meetings with his inner circle.
    Didn't see this in time to watch live, but just watched it on the BurlingtonFreePress site, here: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/12/live-video-bernie-speak-after-confab/85787406/

    The key thing he said comes right at the end, where he says, "We are very good at math" and we know who has received the most votes.

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    1. I wish I could remember the exact words: Revolutions are not about election cycles, but about all our efforts going forward. Or words to that effect.

      Then he started talking about a 50-state strategy and the need for ordinary people to run for everything from school board on up. Where have we all heard that before?

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    2. Well, we know who WOULD have received the most votes had anybody bothered to count them, and it would NOT have been Hillary.

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  10. “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
    ― Isaac Asimov

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    1. Er, I think that would be politics...

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    2. While researching the above I came across a great page of quotes by Isaac Asimov, from which the following:

      There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

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    3. My apologies, Listener. Of course you were right.

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    4. There's no "of course" about that! Ha!

      Besides, I thought you were speaking tongue-in-cheek! :-)

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  11. No time to watch it now; an NKH TV special on the Amazon starts in a few minutes. But this does not mark the end of the movement, just a change in emphases. Remember that Bernie said time and again that it was not about him, but us. Bernie is likely to be Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee; the Dems should at least control the Senate and increase their power in the House; we are going to keep working to elect progressive members of congress (bye-bye DWS, I hope!); and Bernie is going to be in a good position to wring concessions from HRC on Tuesday, even better than at the convention in all likelihood. And a good many of us (particularly in states that are sure to go Democratic) will vote our consciences. A year ago no one could have imagined this sort of progress, and in one or two more election cycles we should be able to go all the way.

    Alan

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    1. Amen, brother! I'm in total agreement with everything you say.

      Interesting question whether Illinois is certain to go Democratic. Democrats hold supermajoraties in both houses of the legislature, yet we have a Republican governor and are looking to get rid of a Republican Senator. Can't go by the last two presidential elections because Obama was a favorite son.

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    2. Well, I live in a swing state and I'm voting my conscience anyway. I have zero desire to help Hillary ascend the throne. She may sleeze her way into the White House, but not with my help.

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  12. I progressed several levels in the "classic" level of my game. It's enjoyable but tiring.

    For bedtime reading I finally settled on The Cocktail Waitress by James M. Cain. So far it's nicely noir.

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  13. I just watched Bernie's press conference; thanks for the link, listener. It sure didn't look like a meeting of the local chapter of the Whipped Rooster Society! (Tip o' the hat to Senator Huey Long.)

    --Alan

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