Democratic Overconfidence/Complacency = Dire Consequences at the Polls in 2014

We watch the right wingnut crazies make what we consider to be their incredible blunders, their ridiculous statements about rape, their never ending war on women in The House and state legislatures across the country and say to ourselves that they are shooting themselves in the foot, that despite their supposed desire to appeal to women and minorities, they just keep sticking that wounded foot into their mouths. We find ourselves believing there is no way they can continue to hold onto The House, and that they will lose control of a # of state legislatures and perhaps some governorships come next year. Maybe.

Keep in mind, though, that they are, via their words and deeds effectively preaching to their own choir. There's a large contingency of their true believers that buy into all of the crap they are spewing. This is the stuff their dreams are made of. Doubtless they feel quite secure in saying what they are saying and doing what they are doing. They are likely looking back at us with just the opposite notion, that not only will they hold onto a majority in The House, but may well gain control of the Senate and strengthen their hold on many of the tates. Republicans obviously feel embolden, perhaps owing to lingering high unemployment numbers and the string of trumped up "scandals" that have hit the White House over the last couple of months, or they just believe that the pendulum will swing back for them in the midterms and hopefully in 2016, or simply that they can't miss because God's on their side. Maybe. But, they believed that virtually down to the wire in the 2012 national election, and some still can't believe they lost, claiming that Obama stole the election , perhaps with the unscrupulous aid of ACORN, an organization that went out of existence long before the Presidential campaign had even begun.

What I fear is overconfidence on the part of Democrats and the Left in general. While a number of Republican spokes persons have made outlandish statements, and Republican controlled state legislatures and state houses have been enacting draconian anti-abortion/anti-contraceptive laws, that would seem to have the effect of splitting the Party and alienating more and more voters, I fear it could be disastrous for Dems to lower their guard.The dumb asses making all the stupid pronouncements about abortion are not the ones directing things behind the scenes. They may in fact be acting as a diversion, a means to get Democrats to relax and take their eye off the ball, as it were. There are a lot of machinations underway that are designed to insure Republican wins across the country via gerrymandering and by enacting Jim Crowe type legislation regarding voting rules and regulations that will effectively disenfranchise a record number of likely Democratic voters, or by other means keep them away from the polls and prevent them from voting. The Reps are involved in what they see as a holy war - very like that being waged against the West by radical Muslims - and they are willing to accept any means, regardless of how unfair, how unethical, or even how illegal, and perhaps even regardless of how violent they may be.

The coming months will be interesting and not a little scary. I simply hope we don't have a repeat of the 2010 midterms when complacent Dems chose to sit on their hands. I hope that what we believe to be missteps by the Reps as in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and elsewhere will have the effect of galvanizing the Left into action and that they show up in record numbers at the polls despite all the opposition's efforts to prevent just that.

Sad End to a Promising Life

 Last Friday evening Jo and I had to make a funeral visitation. A close college friend of our older son ended her life a few days before. She was an intelligent , talented, beautiful, even vivacious young woman. Without getting all clinical, which is beyond me, suffice to say she was troubled. It all came down to a moment, a flash of darkness and she was gone. The darkness. What does it take to take that last step? I know volumes have been written about it, but we still just don't know. If we knew, we could prevent it - at least more often, anyhow.

When we arrived at the funeral home there was a line out the door. It took the better part of an hour and a half to finally address her parents standing a few feet from the open casket. I've no doubt they had been living in shock for the previous three or four days. Yet, they were almost convivial. They also knew our son, and were pleased that we came. They smiled, and we engaged in small talk, then we moved on to approach the casket. As with most people who have passed, she looked like the girl we knew and yet didn't.

There were literally hundreds of people who passed through that funeral home that evening. There were no doubt many more the following morning. Some were probably family friends, people who worked for and with her father and mother, neighbors and so on, but the great majority of the people we saw were this girl's friends, her contemporaries. Friends from her childhood, from high school, from college, from graduate school, from various places she had worked. She had been a singer and actress and later a fitness trainer, among other things. People who had performed with her and seen her perform. People with whom she had trained. All these people. All these friends. All this family. Yet no one had been able to get at her core, to recognize her pain, to realize how close to the edge she had come. I don't write this as any kind of finger pointing or condemnation. It's just the terrible conundrum of mental illness.

When I first met her back in the late 1990s, she was about eighteen, a college freshman, and full of life, had a flashing smile and didn't seem to know a stranger. The intervening years obviously took a heavy toll on her. How the world failed her, and how she ultimately failed herself was hidden in the chemical imbalance that plagued her mind.

 Jo and I have now known three young people who took their own lives. One a high school classmate of our kids, one a family member, and now this young woman. We also lost a young family member to the ravages of drug abuse a couple years ago. Life doles out some hard shots. Fortunately, we manage to dodge a lot of them, but never all. I wish these four young people had managed to dodge one more.

Lazy Afternoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wlWubQL1iao#!

My Son Nick on Mein Schiff I

My son Nick singing "This is the Moment" from the musical Jekyl & Hyde. The lyrics are in German as he was performing on board a German cruise ship - Mein Schiff I. The video is not good, but the sound is not bad. His voice is great.

More Political Crap

Keep in mind that most of the people who will be voting the Republican ticket for President in November will be doing so not because they love or even like Mitt Romney. It will be because they hate Barack Obama.


Also the climate in this country is not currently conducive to liberal positions or progressive thought. It is far more likely that in the foreseeable future we will be governed at pretty much all levels by arch conservatives - social, fiscal and political -  than by anyone with a liberal or progressive bent.


If so, ultimately the pendulum will likely swing back, but in the interim the conservatives will do much damage to the fabric of this country. The US will turn inward and take giant steps backward. We will no longer be regarded as a serious player in world politics or world commerce. We will become nothing more than a belligerent backwater of old ideas, or of no ideas at all. The fundies will be sitting on their hands making dire predictions of the coming judgment, while they wait contentedly for the rapture to sweep them away on the Paradise Express, leaving the rest of us vile sinners to succumb to Satan and eternal hell. Whoopie!

Consequences of a Romney Win in November

Some of us, myself included, take a great deal of joy in dissing the Reps and the Right Wingnuts. However, this is serious business. Romney may well win this thing. Some of the recent polls have demonstrated that Obama's lead has dwindled, and in some cases he is actually running behind Romney. These polls are very mercurial, and often inconsistent, but the overall trend right now is leaning in favor of Romney.







Some shrug and say "Why should I give a damn?" Well, let me tell you.






A Romney White House coupled with a Republican Congress will effectively throw this country back into the Dark Ages. This is not, IMO, a metaphor. We will experience giant steps toward rendering this country a christian theocracy. Virtually everything Obama accomplished during the past 3 plus years will be lost. Healthcare? Gone. DADT reinstated, maybe even worse. DOMA will become a Constitututional Ammendment - one man/one woman marriage will be the law of the land. Abortion and perhaps even contraception will be outlawed on a Federal level. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will disappear and/or become "privatized." Planned Parenthood will be drummed out of existence. Unemployment compensation and welfare will be history. Taxes on the rich and big corporations will be minimized with the burden falling upon the middle class and the poor. Unions will be effectively neutered. More and more people will be disenfranchized - mainly minorities who tend to vote Democratic. Government regulation of virtually everything will be minimized or completely done away with. The EPA, the Dept of Education and many other requlatory agencies will disappear. The rich will get ever so much richer. The numbers of the poor will grow exponentially. All hail conservatism!






Complacency on the part of Dems and Liberals will prove disastrous. If you choose to sit and whine that Obama hasn't been progressive enough, and, therefore, choose to sit on your hands during this election, you will reap the benefits of a far right wing christian based government at all levels that may not get as involved in your business, but will be all over your bedroom, for perhaps many years to come. Enjoy.

Mitt Romney: Liar par excellance

Right now I am very fearful that come November, Romney is going to win this damn election. Anyone who would vote for him would necessarily be a nitwit, but there seems to be no shortage of those.


Romney is a liar. It's not even debatable. Everyone knows it. If his mouth is open, he's lying. But lying is not only accepted from our politicians, it is encouraged, applauded even. Being truthful on the other hand is looked upon with suspicion and often disgust. Back when Obama made his comment about people clinging to their guns and religion, he was right on the money. Hilary Rosen's comment regarding Ann Romney never having worked a day in her life was also accurate. Poorly stated perhaps, but certainly not innacurate. Both were vilified and skewered by pretty much everyone.


So, lessons must be learned. The truth will get you into trouble. Lying will get you into the White House.