Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Very Cool Petunia


21 comments:

  1. Bernie's the man!

    Comments accidentally left on the last thread.

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  2. No problem, Cat--I looked there first just now. You concluded with an apparently colloquial expression not familiar to me, although perfectly clear.

    --Alan

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    1. LOL Alan. It may be a Britishism. I do sometimes use British turns of phrase without thinking about it. Glad it wasn't puzzling. :)

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  3. The hunt for invisible dwarf galaxies [Click] Cold Dark Matter, anyone? This is not accessible as the martian tsunami story, but probably more so than quantum computers I posted about on Sunday evening.

    --Alan

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  4. "Platform committee appointments HRC 6, Bernie 5, Schultz 4."

    So it's really Hillary 11, Bernie 5.
    That's even worse than the delegate count.

    It looks like it's too late to change the system in time for this election.
    At least Bernie's people are already forging ahead to upend Congress in 2018.

    Still, heavy sigh.

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    1. The DNC will never stop cheating. They may pay lip-service to Bernie's changes to the platform but they'll discard them like a used tissue if Hillary actually gets elected. The site "Forward" on Facebook had a headline this morning saying Bernie supporters are damaging the Democratic Party. I did not bite my tongue or spare my keyboard. My reply in part: "What utter bullshit. The damage to the Democratic Party has been totally self-inflicted. To say that Bernie supporters caused it is saying that the wagon pulls the horse....."

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    2. It doesn't surprise me, Susan. I have no idear how many other people have been as totally brainwashed and indoctrinated as my mother by the Clinton machine's distortions of the truth. Apparently enough to give HRC enough primary victories to make her claims seem credible.

      Mum was at it again today, saying Bernie and his supporters are not only dangerous but violent. That must be thanks to the Vegas chair bullshit. Both HRC and Fox News are milking that one for all it's worth.

      But the lies they disseminate about Bernie (both MSNBC and Fox) are breathtaking, and of course both for the same fundamental reason. Both have a vested interest in discrediting Bernie and promoting HRC's inevitability. Why it is not blindingly obvious to Clinton supporters that the Republicans are doing everything they can, and have been for months, to see to it that she is the nominee is beyond me. Not to mention the corollary, that they want HRC because they perceive her as easier to beat. Wouldn't you think that would give her supporters pause? But like you said before, it's a cult. They believe what the machine and its media outlets spoon feed them and as far as they're concerned, that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Clinton machine is in its own way as much fear mongers as Fox.

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    3. Nobody seems to remember 2008. And I'm not talking about how Hillary did almost exactly what Bernie is doing. I mean nobody remembers how the extended Democratic primary *helped* the nominee in the general election.

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    4. Not only does nobody remember 2008, apparently nobody remembers much of anything. The current fantasy is apparently that the national conventions of both parties exist for the sole purpose of confirming what everybody has known since New Hampshire and conferring the official stamp of approval on the nominee. The idea of the convention actually being contentious, of differences being aired and discussed, possibly heatedly, horse trading being done...in short, the messy and exciting business of politics being conducted seems utterly foreign to the talking heads.

      My mother keeps telling me Bernie is going to cause trouble at the convention, presumably meaning he is not going to roll over and let HRC walk all over him. Well, why should he? He won a very respectable number of states. Why shouldn't he be heard? who wants to watch a coronation when what really needs to happen is politics?

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  5. Alan, the Red Admiral Butterfly is smaller than a Monarch Butterfly.

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  6. Also, thanks so much for the update on the pens, Alan!!

    I have some interesting comments to send you about cursive writing. Check your email shortly.

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  7. Cat, that gets up my nose too, like unwelcome stinging bubbles! I feel especially for those who have yet to vote, who are left to feel like their vote isn't as important as the votes from the earlier states, because the decision has been made, like it or lump it. I guess we all feel that way to some extent! We need a shorter campaign season and ONE day on which everyone votes via caucus or primary together. Since it can be done for the general election, it can be done for primaries. In fact, why not do away with primaries and parties altogether? Why not simply have people run for office with the same amount of money and the same amount of time. Level the playing field and let every vote count equally.

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    1. Yes! And bring back the Fairness Doctrine so media can't nauseate us endlessly with the reporting on a fool like Trump while ignoring Bernie.

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    2. Bringing back the fairness doctrine, absolutely. Doing away with parties? I don't think that's either feasible or desirable. People just running for office higgalty-piggalty with no affiliation to give the voters a general idea of their beliefs and political antecedents would lead to voter confusion and general political chaos. In a body as large and complex as the United States Congress, some organizational principle is necessary.

      Not but what I'm beginning to think the Democratic Party as we knew it is as moribund, eaten away from within, as the Republican Party. We need new parties. This does happen from time to time. But some party structure does need to exist so that candidates at all levels and across the country can present a unified vision. That's not to say it has to be a one issue party, but rather that it encompasses candidates and voters with a certain world view.

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    3. It looks to me like what Alan calls the "jungle primary" means that a lot of people will not have an opportunity to case a meaningful vote. And if a plurality automatically wins, that's worse.

      I also note that it was the extended primary season that gave Bernie the opportunity to get his message across to the whole country. Although I suppose things could be adjusted to avoid that problem.

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    4. The current Democratic Party as represented by the Clinton machine seems to me to be center right. There's nothing wrong with center right, as long as that's what you acknowledge yourself to be. What I myself want is a center left party, broadly moderate and reasonable enough to appeal to the middle and working classes, and with a solid core encompassing the labor movement (and the Catholic Worker movement) and the various equality and civil rights movements. The problem is, rightists seem to have a natural herd mentality, while leftists resist being Corralled. We can't even get all the Democrats to vote as a reliable bloc in Congress. And Bernie supporters apparently won't hang together...

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    5. Cat--I'd say that the current Democratic Party is well to the right of center-right. If center-right means in the right-lane of a two-lane road, I'd say they are driving down the shoulder--and the GOP is in the ditch or mowing down fenceposts. Even if the Dems move left to become center-right, we still need a significant presence center-left. IMO.

      --Alan


      P.S.: I don't have the link to hand, but I read today that Debbie Wasserman Schultz has never run for office in a contested election--this will be her first! Kind of like Jeb Bush.... Maybe I better send Tim Canova a little more love. First I want to see who else Bernie endorses, though.

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  8. A few items gathered over lunch.—Alan

    Sanders draws blood in war with Democratic leaders [Click]

    Trump fuels Democratic voter surge [Click]

    Bernie's not-so-secret-weapon [Click] “Sanders consistently beats Donald Trump in the polls. It's getting harder to overlook.”

    Sanders seeks recanvass in Kentucky primary [Click]

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    1. Getting harder to overlook... When you're willfully blind, you can overlook anything. *sigh*

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  9. A one-day primary would mean that ONLY the really rich, or really bought would have enough $ to run. Hillary would have won a one-day primary hands down.

    Only nose thing I recall is Vinnie Barbarino's "up your nose with a rubber hose" from Welcome Back Kotter. . . .

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    1. LOL Puddle. Good ol' Vinnie Barberino. That was a great show.

      BTW a couple weeks back I saw a terrific Bernie ad set to the themesong for "Welcome Back Cotter."

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