Friday, April 08, 2016 3:32 PM
We’ve reached an awkward point in the political process now—things are narrowing down. People begin speaking of candidates they formerly criticized as the solution to the problem of ‘the lesser of two evils’. Conversely, Bernie Sanders can no longer be unaggressive towards Hillary Clinton, and answered Charlie Rose’s question “Would you support her, if chosen?” by prefacing his ‘yes’ with “I’d consider a Trump or Cruz presidency an unmitigated disaster, so yes, I would support Hillary Clinton is she wins the nomination.” He couldn’t just say ‘yes’, like he would have a few months back—he’s got his gloves off and he’s got to keep them off.
The funniest part of this process is the simple truth that the very best possible next President of the United States would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Oval Office and be locked inside—sentenced, in his or her mind, to the jury duty from hell—and a hell of a way to reward years of selfless public service. Any sensible person can just look at the before and after hair-color of the last few presidents and be able to tell that the job redefines the word ‘difficult’. Only a spark of ambition would drive someone to the madness of seeking the post—and now that we’re getting down to it, that flaw is being brought to the forefront.
It’s attack time—and, hey, does anyone else get the impression that both Bernie and Hillary were more comfortable when it was still ‘gloves on’? I get the sense they are both sane enough to be uncomfortable with the egotistical sniping that the final days of a head-to-head must inevitably become. This is in marked contrast to the GOP—they’ve long since disqualified themselves from the list of respectable candidates. They are far too happy in their playpen, holding dick-measuring contests when they had an opportunity to discuss the issues for months—hell, years now. Their ambitions are front and center, completely overshadowing any sense of service or responsibility to the public—and while you may think it an old-fashioned attitude, in my view it disqualifies them from serious office, be their platforms whatever they may.
We forget sometimes that the election is not wholly a popularity contest—no matter how much we treat it as such, it remains a serious decision with mortal consequences. Sanders’ young supporters flock to him because young people don’t need convincing, they just need inspiring—and it is a good thing that they are being inspired to play a part in their own democracy—I hope it lasts beyond Hillary’s nomination. Because the problems Sanders talks about need more than a populist president to fix—those problems require a quantum-level rise in political engagement from coast-to-coast, over several election cycles, if we’re ever going to have a chance at taming the super-wealthy’s de facto march back to monarchism.
It’s daunting to think of—a quantum-level rise in political engagement, obtaining objective news sources, growing neighborhood bonds while our youth are ever more deeply seduced into the twitter-verse or VR-gaming helmets—the list of impossible things we need to do to fix the future goes on from there. We could just let the powers that be continue doing what they do—it might not be pretty, but who’s to say they won’t avoid destroying us all in the end, right? They know what they’re doing, don’t they? After all, they are in charge—even if they did grow up in an age when phones had busy-signals and cords—even if some of them don’t even understand how the world has changed—even if most of them see change as dangerous. They want the power? Let’em have it. At least, if it all goes to hell, we’ll have someone to blame. Why be so serious all the time?
Friday, April 08, 2016 4:15 PM
The Bird Hearing (2016Apr08)
I went for a walk yesterday—the birds were so noisy, I went back inside and got my camera. I shot three minutes and change of bird cacophony—the video is pretty unwatchable—I was focusing on the sounds—but that didn’t stop me from making two improv videos with the same bird footage. The music is different in each, but the bird songs are the same. I suggest just listening to the audio—the video, in spite of all I did to stabilize it in post, is nauseating.
It’s kind of a shame I got so wrapped up in the birds singing—the music is pretty good on both of these—they would have been nice all by themselves, I think.
Oh, and here’s one more from the day before yesterday:
bu-bye now.
I will be using this site to start writing about my issues with my back and the cool things that sometimes occur. It is no longer a way to write you. Lord knows how much I will write. but I do not want to waste any of your time, so thusly ignore it.. At first I thought it was a blog. A friend said “isn’t a blog a place to have debates and/or discussions?” I checked and it says post so there is that difference. I guess a post is more one’s view point, don’t argue and a blog is more for conversation. But seeing that Facebook was invented by CIA agent Zuckerberg, I am going to be a tad less obnoxious than I tend to get, I didn’t believe it for the gal who told me about FB is a conspiracy theorist. I searched it and sure enough it is true. It has saved the CIA lots of money spying because folks are willing to say anything, myself included. The article asks “how does it affect you” “I do nothing wrong”. That’s for us to decide.
(it won’t be under Leave a reply)
discussions are where you find them–and I enjoy getting your comments. It’s not like I’m too busy to talk with. Maybe I think too much of myself–but I don’t worry about being spyed on–I really want people to read what I write–and I like it when they say what they think about it. Besides, I think you mean FBI–the CIA only reads FB posts from foreigners….
I agree about the foreigners, or at least I hope so. But there may be groups out there that are dangerous that we don’t know about. I like that it saves taxpayers money…I mean nothing insulting so, I got the feeling that you didn’t want folks to say something different from how you thought. That’s sorta how I felt. I do get a little irked when you put yourself down when you are so incredibly special.
The birds were so nice. You did well with the accompaniment. It is one of my favorite rituals to listen to the birds in my yard in the morning. It helps that I feed them a little. You have rocks around your house. I miss the rocks of up north. In Katonah Ridge, everyone had a big rock to sit on. One summer Shan and I lived on top of a big hill going north off the RR tracks in Katonah. We found a nice area of rocks for a grill, a bed and to sit around. I was grateful my home was a quick walk away. His logic for the mountain was that the cops wouldn’t climb up it or we would hear them coming. Glad I was young.
I was impressed you were reading Elliot at age 13. At 13, I was concerned with upcoming surgery and what cute outfit I would wear.
The only thing I meant about me and the “spying” was maybe I won’t say “fuck the government”. Heck, they send me my meager monthly disability check. I love them.
I, too, am walking a bit. I found a doctor who does stem cell therapy. I have a lot to do before I will even be considered a candidate for stem cell treatment. His goal is to save my hip joint when all the hip surgeons I have seen do not take into consideration that my sacral/pelvic region is a mess. They say “I just do hips.” I won’t do it. I know it will be the end of me so I am delighted to have found a surgeon that on his own time and money went to Toronto where 200 cadaver pelvis’ were smashed and they had to repair them.
Is that a little house out your window or a little church. We have a church on almost every road down here. Weird.