Get Involved

I am totally amazed at how much raw anger and emotion is still out there over the election. I've certainly done my share of hand wringing. Our two political parties failed to stop the hostile take-over of America's political system so we now have two failed political parties, and a rogue in the White House. Taking down the rogue is above my pay scale. I have every confidence people much smarter than me are at work on that task at this very moment. Everything takes time. He's not even been sworn into office.

I do believe I can perhaps help in restoring and reforming one of the political parties. That is where I plan to focus my attention. I encourage you to read Five Reasons For Liberals to Have Hope.

Next I encourage you to read Obama Tells His Supporters, Stop Moping; Says he'll Return to Community Organizing.

That's a start. Now, if you're looking at Huffington Post, stop. Overnight they became the liberals' FOX. Disgusting.

I've seen messages encouraging people to buy a subscription to The New York Times as a way to support them in standing against Donald Trump. He is out for the NYT with a vengeance that is likely to get worse. I subscribe from time to time so maybe it's time for me to do that again. I only subscribe to the digital which is quite reasonable.

I am also going to subscribe again to the digital Washington Post.

Apathy is always my biggest fear for Democrats. I'm pleased to see Democrats passionate once again. We absolutely must not 'normalize' this election. There's good anger and there's bad anger. Righteous anger is what we need to keep alive.

Remember it is not our job or our place to tell Republicans how to run their party. We have enough to keep us busy dealing with Democrats that are prone to napping.

I have more to say.

Here We Go Again

Republicans are sure Hillary is guilty of a crime. They just don't know what crime.

She isn't even in office and they're already talking about all the investigations they have planned and blocking all her Supreme Court appointments. Does this sound like a party putting country first? More to the point, concerned about correcting the problems within their own party?

Do you think Republicans have noticed their party is in tatters? They've been after the Clintons since 1992. They devoted all their attention to investigating Clintons and no attention to the well being of their party. In attempting to destroy the Clintons they destroyed their party by neglect.

Can you be impeached for acts committed in a job you previously held? If so, can the Bush administration still be investigated and impeached?

I rolled my eyes when I learned the latest email debacle did not involve Hillary but rather her aide who's married to Anthony Weiner. That is so like the Clintons. If there's sleaze anywhere around they can be counted on to be close enough to cause talk that stokes the Republican flames of suspicion. I miss the Obamas already.

We Need To Talk

It's time we begin to land this 2016 election plane. It flew a little too high and ran into turbulence. It's time to talk it down.

Change is hard for people. We've seen a lot of changes in the last eight years, two changes being the first black president and it looks likely the first woman president. This has rattled some Americans. The legalization of same sex marriage and protection of LBGT rights has caused some to push the panic button.

People no longer talk, they shout, they scream, they make vile threats. The conspiracy theory labs and the false rumor mills have become big business over the last eight years. Language is foul, mean and full of revenge.

Often these days I remember a quote I used to repeat often to myself while trying to hold my own against religious fundamentalists out for jihad. "If in fighting the beast you become like the beast, you are no better than the beast." (I'd love to know the source of that quote.)

How can we begin to talk this noisy violent plane down? It easy to want to have the last word, to get our pound of flesh. We need to recall often the words of First Lady Michelle Obama, "When they go low, we go high."

I have a hard time with controversy, I run from it. That makes it very difficult to hold my own in today's political environment. Politics and religion were two of the three reasons I fled Texas. It's easier for me to flee than to stand and fight, but what would happen if all the people who think like me ran away from the problem? Sometime we've got to stand and fight for what we believe. The question is, how do we do it without becoming like the beast we're fighting? I don't have an answer. I'd like to hear what you think. What can we as individuals do to bring down the temperature?

Call The Law

Do you have generational poverty in your family? I'm not talking about family members who don't spend their money well. I'm talking true poverty. Bob is one of ten siblings. Their mother died young and their dad went on to marry several more times. Along the way there came two half siblings and a step sibling. That's where the family acquired a pocket of true generational poverty. It was in the family when I married Bob 54 years ago and I have no doubt it will be there in another 54 years. It's absolutely the hardest work ever lifting people out of this kind of poverty.

We visited this family through the years and never worried about finding them. You just drove until you found a house with a big dog tied to the front porch; at least one non running vehicle in the front yard; black garbage bags of trash on the porch and out in the yard (it's not a lawn), and assorted empty alcohol containers scattered around. There well may be a shouting match going on out in the yard among multiple generations of family that pool their resources and live together. It's quite common to hear someone shout "CALL THE LAW!" That's our family.

People are wondering what's going on with the 2016 election. A must read is the book 'Hillbilly Elegy' by J.D. Vance. I'm actually listening to the audible version, with the author as narrator. You will have a much better understanding of why white blue collar people are flocking to Donald Trump. He speaks their language.

Listening to this book takes me back to think about our family. I totally understand now. Both political parties have missed it with these people.

I hope you will read the book.

Lordy Life Is Interesting

Bob's felt better since being off his blood pressure medication. This morning he decided he wanted to walk to an REI store that's a little over a mile from where we live. We walk through a park to get there. I was sure he couldn't do it but figured he'd take the news better if he tried and failed than if I announced he couldn't do it.  It's an uphill climb to the entrance of the park about a quarter mile from where we live. He made it to the bench just inside the park and had to admit he couldn't go any further. I left him to continue my walk and picked him up on my way back. He did much better walking down hill coming back. 

Even though he didn't accomplish his goal it did get him out of the house. The park was a nice place to sit while I was walking and he got to speak to some nice dogs. He did good.

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I worked in a seminary for 17 years, I know that's hard to believe, but I did. The homiletics (preaching) professor told his students they should never go into the pulpit on Sunday mornings without first reading the newspaper.

I think of that these days. First thing I do in the morning is check the news. I'm quite sure Donald Trump talks in his sleep just like he does when he's awake. 

It appears the pot is beginning to boil and we may be entering territory new to elections in this country. I'm a belt and suspenders kind of person, I try to be prepared for everything.

It seems to me we're very close now to having a candidate that's lost the endorsement of his party. Have we ever had a rogue, lone ranger, candidate before in an election?

What happens if he wins the popular vote? There's a lot of talk about doing away with the electoral college.  This might be an election that shows us just what the electoral college is all about. Are we sure it's antiquated? Are we sure we want to get rid of it?

Interesting stuff and it's happening by the minute. Wonder if Mr. Trump will step off center stage for the Olympics?

Life of a Political Junkie

Now what am I going to do?  For two weeks I've been totally consumed by the goings on at the political conventions. What happens now?

First thing is to put away the TV remote control. Won't be needing that until November. Then it's on to editing the Twitter feeds I follow. Some I will delete, and will no doubt add some along the way. I like Twitter because I get links to all sorts of interesting things to read. I've yet to tweet anything myself, not my thing.

This is now the time to be very careful what you sign up for because you may get more than you want. From one online political contribution months ago I've been flooded with requests. I now delete all of them. Some get pretty ugly about the fourth time they email and I haven't responded. That just makes me more determined not to respond.

I'm fired up and ready to blast off emails to elected officials about what I view was a very risky thing to do. Endorsing Donald Trump is going to stick to these characters in Congress long after they wish they'd never heard of him. However, the elected officials from my state are all Democrats so yelling at them about Donald Trump is not appropriate. Somehow I don't think lawmakers in Texas are going to be interested in what I think. Oh well, so much for that idea.

This is the time when you get a lot of 'bedwetting' in election cycles. If you're a poll watcher the next 100 days are going to be miserable for you.  At the very least find a few polls you trust and stick with them. Right or wrong you will be getting consistent information.

Just today I read an article about the fallacy of following the percent of Americans who think the country is moving in the wrong direction. When I look at those numbers I assume that's the percentage of Americans unhappy with the current administration. Not so.  If I had to answer that question I too would say I thought the country was moving in the wrong direction because of the Republican gridlock in Congress, the resurgence of racism, gun deaths,  and too much anger and hate rhetoric.  That has nothing to do with how I feel about the current administration.

A better thing to look at is the President's approval ratings. If they're on the rise, chances are greater the election will be won by that party. Not a sure bet but something to think about.

My life in Texas was miserable because I'm such a political animal.  I left Texas just ahead of the Republican posse that was out to get me.  It is very hard for me to keep my mouth shut and Texas is not a good place for me to live given that fact.

I absolutely love living in Oregon where I don't grind my teeth, growl, and snarl about everything political. It's wonderful living where I don't offend somebody every time I open my mouth.

I can't seem to find a passion that's not offensive to others. Religion didn't work. Genealogy made people roll their eyes and cross to the other side of the street when they say me coming. Politics is an even more offensive passion. What's a person to do?

I think I must have been born passionate about politics. I don't remember wanting to be passionate about it. It's not in my family background. I've tried many times to find a new interest that turns me on like politics but so far that hasn't happened.

Being a political junkie is not an easy life to live.

Stirring Things Up

Sometimes I get an urge to stir things up a little bit. Mostly I try to sit down and wait until that urge passes but sometimes it gets the best of me.

Being apartment dwellers and someone else doing the landscaping I don't pay a lot of attention to what goes on but lately some things have been bugging me. It's odd how we live with something day in and day out and never notice and then one day something jumps into your vision you need to deal with. We've been here two years with two large rhododendron bushes grown up over the living room windows. Over the week-end that suddenly bothered me.

I turned in a work order for someone in landscaping to come and remove those old bushes that have outgrown their prime and replace with two smaller bushes that won't grow so large. I saw a worker out there looking at them earlier. Wonder if that means they're actually considering my request.

Daughter asked if we were allowed to turn in work orders on landscaping. I have no idea but since I turned in a work order for a French drain and got it I thought I'd see what they'd do about this request. I'm tired of having my windows blocked by bushes. I figure, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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I like to get up early and dress first thing. For some reason I've lost all disciple about that. Bob does not come out in the mornings until he is dressed and has made up his bed. 

I could do that as well but I don't, though there was a time when I did. I've decided it's because I'm so eager to get to some digital device I just throw on a robe and next thing you know I've been sitting in that robe for three hours reading stuff on digital devices. By then I'm sluggish, and have to push myself to get in the shower. It feels like I'm starting the day all over again when half of it is already passed.

I gave myself a talking to this morning and in the morning I'm going to also dress and make my bed before coming to the living room. I think my attitude will be better about the day before me.

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Are you aware we have two Hillary Clintons running in this election? Yep we do. You see about 1994 Republicans came up with two very scary cartoon figures named Bill and Hillary and they began to write stories about them, scary, frightening stories. Their readers loved those scary stories so they wrote more and so it has gone until today. It's next to impossible to change the mind of anyone who bought into this fictional series about the Clintons. Don't bother trying.

Then there's the other Clintons, the real Clintons. They have done a lot of good for this country. The facts are there for anyone who believes in facts. They've also made mistakes and those are documented as well for those who like documentation for what they believe. The latest scandals have been Benghazi, which Republicans have spent two years and millions of dollars trying to prove wrong doing but came up empty handed. The other was the famous email server scandal. I don't have a clue what went on about that situation. It's been investigated and the FBI and Department of Justice have said there's no grounds for criminal charges. Republicans don't trust the FBI and the Department of Justice. 

You have to choose between the fictional and the real Hillary. It's impossible to merge the two accounts. I'm not a happy Hillary supporter. In fact I'm pretty disgusted she's the Democratic candidate. I've muttered a lot about it. Then I listened and watched 75 minutes of Donald Trump, red faced and screaming things I believe only a mad man, a man who's unhinged, would say. Things that cannot be proved true but many things that can be proved false.

That sent me scurrying into the lap of Hillary. She's not my first choice but she's no where near as dangerous as Donald Trump.  That said, I have this to say to the Democratic Party. "Don't do this again. Get your act together, groom some young Democrats, and have us some new faces to choose from in 2020. You nearly sent the country down the river this time. Don't do it again."

(Thanks to Bill Clinton for the cartoon character idea)

Taking It Back

I'm taking back what I said the other day about stepping back from politics. No way am I backing off now!

I really didn't plan to hang around for all the ugly stuff but I figure it's going to be beyond anything we've witnessed before in politics.

Given Trump's talent for getting free media exposure do you think he'll be able to win against Hillary?

Some people think there are times in history when an unstoppable movement occurs. President Obama's election in 2008 was viewed by many as such a movement. Do you think we're seeing that with Trump?

I lived in Texas when George W. Bush was first elected governor. It wouldn't have mattered if Ann Richards had walked on water that year the state was going for Bush. Look how that turned out.

Hillary and Trump both have higher negatives than any candidates in history. Do you think that will make a difference?

Hillary is still under investigation but she's always under investigation for something. I don't even pay any attention anymore, I just figure it's the Republicans after Hillary again. What about Trump? He's also under investigation. Will the Republicans find a way to block him being their candidate?

Trump's people have said they don't believe Hillary has been properly vetted. Will it be one witch hunt after another against her? Hard to imagine anyone who's been vetted more often than Hillary Clinton.

What about Bernie? Any chance he could win the Democratic nomination? I know, I know, the pundits say no but they also said there was no way Donald Trump would be the Republican Nominee.

Do you think the next President is almost sure to serve only one term?

It looks to me like this may be an 'everybody pile on Hillary' election. About the only thing Republicans and Trump have in common is their hatred of Hillary.

How do you win against a guy who doesn't play by the rules, anybody's rules?

What Makes a Party

Do you know anything about the working parts of a political party. I don't but I certainly would like to know and don't know where to find that information.

What holds a political party together? Do political parties own real estate? They handle a lot of money but does any of it belong to the 'party?' Is there an office building somewhere that has many floors of people employed by the party?

I think I heard President Obama could 'rent' out his donor database to the Democratic party, that his list was worth a lot of money. Could that be true?

If I had a number to call and ask for the head Democrat or head Republican who could I expect to come to the phone?

I'm serious about this because I think somebody may have to step up and break up one of the parties and I just may be the one to do it. I'm waiting now for the call to come.

What does the Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus do? Not a lot that I can see except obsess over Hillary Clinton. I understand he was elected Chair on the seventh round of voting. Sounds to me like a job nobody wanted. Is he suppose to lead Republicans out of their wilderness? I hope not because he's busy breathing in a paper bag to keep from hyperventilating at the thought of Hillary in the White House.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. She has so many irons in the fire she doesn't have time to think let alone be responsible for leading the party. If she's in charge she's already slipped up. She should have been grooming future presidential candidates while Barack Obama was in the White House. Where are Democrats going to be in 2020?

Radicals never give up and cannot be reasoned with. Establishment Republicans are going to have to pull their heads out of the sand. This is not going to blow over. That's not how radical conservatism works. If the radical ideologues, like Ted Cruz, can't be pushed out of the nest, could  establishment Republicans separate themselves from them, or would they lose enormous amounts of real estate and treasure?

What's the deal here? I need to know.

Stop, I Want Off

I'm fast approaching the time in this 2016 election cycle that for the sake of my mental health I will need to emotionally check out. It's easy for me to become obsessive over politics. I love it, find it very exciting, and addictive.

I'm very close to the time I will shut down my information sources. I love the Internet and have information coming in from many sources. I never watch TV so that won't be a problem. I seldom read the newspaper but will cease to do so until after November. I began today closing out some of my sources and will continue until most are eliminated. I'll hang on to a few but a very few. I have no need to watch poll numbers.

I know how I'm going to vote. Why put myself through the anxiety of such a crazy election? I have no need to watch hair pulling and mud slinging. I gave that up in grade school. Living through an election cycle is like living through a sand storm in Texas. No matter how tight you seal things up the sand still manages to get inside. There's no way I can completely remove political news from my life but I can certainly make it more manageable and less stressful.

Of course this all changes if a good scandal unfolds. I always do my part in supporting scandals so I'll be front and center if such a thing should occur.

Today I will mail in my vote for the Oregon primary. After that I can't think of a single thing I can do that would change this election. Come November I'll be one of the first to mail in my ballot.

I do not take lightly the privilege of voting and I hope every American will vote. After the election I will ask "Did you vote?" of any person who tries to discuss politics with me. If they did not vote I have nothing to say.  Only those who voted get the privilege of complaining.

An Old Recurring Sore

Sometimes I amaze myself at how clueless I can be to my surroundings. It was only recently I learned the KKK was formed by Christians, thus their symbol, the burning cross.

It seems the Ku Klux Klan was established by white Christians in the South immediately after the Civil War. During the early 20th century their membership grew to four million before beginning to decline. It gained new prominence during the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. Now we're seeing the fourth generation of Klanspersons rise again in this 2016 election cycle. That ugly sore is back to deal us misery one more time.

The radical Christian Right has terroristic tendencies, much like radical Islam. The KKK and other radical Christian groups are seeking to have their voices heard and today's Republican race appears to be open to their message.

We all lose when this happens.  We lose more than an election, we lose the soul of society, our basic humanity.

Feeling Like A Fire Hydrant

"Sometimes I feel like a fire hydrant looking at a pack of dogs."

~Bill Clinton

I'm feeling like a fire hydrant this political season and I have yet to figure out how to avoid the pack of dogs. People have gone nuts.

I feel like I should make some effort to be a voice of sanity, but how?  Currently I have unfollowed almost all our Texas family on Facebook. That's the pits. It's either that or put up with the unimaginable awful things they post.

Most of them are what I've always referred to as Texas Rednecks. They liked that term. Until now it was a term we used when we were teasing, a term used with affection, at least in our family. The Tea Party people have ruined that, now I think of mean spirited, radicalized people, when I hear that term.

I'm reluctant to post an opinion on Facebook for fear I'll be peed on by my radicalized family. How did this happen?

Are you having any problems like this? Do you have any ideas for how we can bring this country back to some sense of sanity?