You never know what we'll churn up in cleaning a stall
How many of those scoffing at climate change also think Darwin was all wrong?
Even while planting hybrid seeds or taking medicines developed through application of an understanding of evolution?
For that matter, speaking honestly, they’d probably still have the world flat rather than global.
It’s not all that they’d flatten.
The news coming out of Kansas is truly disturbing. Things were bad enough when historian Thomas Frank asked, What’s the Matter With Kansas? (Subtitled, “How conservatives won the heart of America.”) But now it’s looking out and out suicidal.
It’s what happens when ultra-right-wingers take over the governorship and legislature and begin dismantling the government. Make that, all signs of civilization. How bad can it get? When the legislature cuts down the judiciary?
This is tyranny running toward dictatorship. And the bold economic “plan” is piling up record debts for the state – and others who just might come to the rescue will wind up with the “tax-increase” label. Well, it’s looking hopeless unless the corporations in the state force a change in direction, as business leaders are urging. (At least they know the value of investing for a future.)
My suggestion? Go ahead, if you want, be truly conservative. Give it back to the Indians. And move to your own reservation.
As I said at the time …
Did I ever mention that if you examine the headstones in many cemeteries in Montgomery County, Ohio, where I’m from, the names are identical to those in a typical Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, graveyard? Turns out half of my dad’s ancestry is Pennsylvania Dutch who continued in western Ohio from the early 1800s.
World War I, of course, obliterated any awareness of that German connection. But we weren’t alone. Not just the first wave, who arrived before the Revolutionary War in their desire for religious freedom, either. The more urban wave of the mid-1800s, with all of its high culture, also vanished from public awareness.
These are histories that need to be restored. They helped build America, urban and rural, and they were a sizable part of the population.
Humpty-Trumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty-Trumpty took a great fall.
All the Trump’s men and all the Trump’s bad-asses
Couldn’t put Trumpty together again.
Party first?
As the good ol’ boys go:
Sober up later.
More than two aspirin and a raw egg, at that.
Party first?
Leave the poor custodians to clean up later? Or the ambulance and emergency room personnel?
The ones you look down on?
There are two sides to this issue. As well as two parties, for good reason.
Party first?
Who’s gonna fix the disaster?
Rock all you want. More than the room’s swirling. What can you grab hold of that’s steady?
One of the things I’m seeing the Bernie Sanders camp get right is a recognition of the importance of short messages that appeal to the emotions. I’m seeing a lot of memes (those online posters many of us like to reblog) to that effect, and I suspect many of them are created and distributed by his supporters rather than his staff.
I’ve previously posted my lament that liberal candidates in this country typically sound like they’re giving a lecture – reading everything but the footnotes – rather than speaking passionately from the heart. Great analysis but it’s hard to reconcile that with your feelings when you’re trying to balance the family checkbook. The right-wing, in contrast, well, just listen to Donald Trump riding roughshod over reality. Which would you rather hear in a locker room or a bar? And which are you more likely to remember and repeat? Well, maybe not Trump unless he was performing live mic comedy. Seriously!
Hillary Clinton has her reasons for sticking close to her “talking points,” and I do respect her for that. But the short takes are backfiring for her, as Bernie’s backers are demonstrating.
Just look at how he’s countering the “socialist” label. The graphic of a Social Security card says simply, “Got one of these? You’re a card-carrying socialist.” Bingo! Eight words. And unless you’re in the One Percent, it’s obviously important to your future. What can the so-called conservatives point as their accomplishments? Nothing so dramatic, for sure.
So she’s perceived as cold and calculating, while he’s seen as just nasty, even cruel, pandering to the audience – in other words, a rich bully.
Suggests another bumper sticker:
After the political campaigns moved on from New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, I haven’t blogged much about the races themselves. In part it’s a reflection that there’s no front-line experience to convey, not from my perch in the Granite State. In another part, though, it’s a fact that I can’t keep up with the escalating developments, which are becoming increasingly surreal – unimaginable things you’ve already read in the news. I mean, Bernie Sanders having a good shot at winning Utah in November? Has Hell frozen over?
Well-heeled Jeb Bush crumpling, and then Marco Rubio malfunctioning as a robot or Ben Carson losing his virtue creds by endorsing Donald Trump and now unlovable Ted Cruz accused of multiple extramarital affairs? And when all of the GOP candidates promised to support Trump, the man they’d just accused of being unfit, as the TV cameras witnessed, well – so much for their integrity.
(The possible Cruz retorts could get even weirder. I’m not even going there, not in public.)
And then Mitt Romney’s clumsy but brief ricochet into the spotlight? Anyone remember him?
If anything, what’s apparent is that the Republicans have no viable candidate. Their well’s dry. Caput. Empty. They’re zooming toward a stone wall or even their own train coming from the opposite direction. (Well, after all of their denial over global warming, we just had our warmest winter on record. For what that’s worth.)
The Democrats can’t get too complacent, either, not with some pundits seeing frontrunner Hillary Clinton “a hairline away from federal indictment.”
Months ago I raised the possibility of the Republican Party’s actually splitting, and that talk’s now common – however speculative. Will it actually happen or will everyone simply fall in line behind Trump, even if it means walking off a cliff?
And I also wondered about winding up with a brokered convention, albeit with Favorite Son candidates. The latter part hasn’t jelled, but the former just may be in the works, if party establishment can pull enough strings. And that raises the possibility of House Speaker Paul Ryan stepping up as the white horse. Or white elephant, depending. (One rumor has him writing his acceptance speech as you read this.)
Now come rumors of mounting a desperation third-party run headed by Retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, which presents all kinds of fairy tale appeal at this point. Well, as they say, Dwight Eisenhower came late in the political season and look what happened.
A three-way race? Well, that also points us back toward the possibility of the winner being decided by the House of Representatives, as if that body can agree on anything these days. Very scary indeed.
As would a tied up Supreme Court, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Since when has the National Rifle Association — a special interest group if there ever was one — had the right to choose a high-court justice? Want to talk about protecting the Constitution? (As I recall, the Founding Fathers were also aware of the threat of a tyranny of the minority, as well as a tyranny of the majority. McConnell should listen to their wisdom, rather than his own self-deluded ego.)
As would the scenario of having events spiral out of control altogether, leading to a (hold our breath) military coup. Keep this up, I’ll be afraid of going to bed. The nightmares could be truly spooky.
Meanwhile, the punch line comes back to the promise of making America great again? It’s a bad, bad joke, indeed.
Jnana's Red Barn 