OMG! Bernie is a Socialist

Just hold on a minute, he has defined himself as a Democratic Socialist. Splitting hairs? Perhaps but consider this.

The ten happiest countries in the world consist of “all borderline socialist states, with generous welfare benefits and lots of redistribution of wealth.” http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/19/norway-denmark-finland-business-washington-world-happiest-countries.html

Compare that to America’s “trickle down” capitalist state.

A country where the sweet little old lady down the street has stopped going to her quilting bee so she can spend more time at the range practicing with her Glock Gen4.

A country where little girls no longer have tea with their dolls, they now brandish miniature pink assault rifles. (Aww…. isn’t she cute?)

A country where inner city riots are becoming the norm.

A country where most people in their 40s and 50s think they will have to work until they die.

A country where college students owe more in student loans than their parents paid for their home.

A country with an ever increasing number of hate groups and an ever increasing number of lone wolf terrorist attacks.

A country with more gun deaths than any other country in the world.

A country with the largest prison population per capita than any country in the world.

America is indeed under attack. But America is not under attack from Isis or Al Qaeda or some other terrorist group.
No, America is under attack from within, from the voracious greed of the few mighty capitalists intent on owning the world.

If this is the country you want, continue supporting the corporate pawns.
Or you can join us here in creating a country of peace, love, happiness and prosperity for all. https://berniesanders.com/

Bernie Sanders for President?

Senator Bernie Sanders threw his hat in the ring today as a Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
As a progressive Democrat, I support Senator Sanders in this effort.

My concerns in this are many.
Senator Sanders will be painted as a socialist, communist? By the main stream media, Wall Street and the wealthy. This is a mighty force and they have unlimited funding behind them.
Senator Sanders does not always come off well in his public appearances as displayed already last night on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Where videos of Senator Sanders were played showing him addressing the senate.
Disregarding the visual and listening to the Senator and his views on the issues should be enough to sway the people to liking him and his proposals but, can we expect the general public to disregard the visuals?
For the record Senator Sanders is opposed to citizens united. He is opposed to TPP. He is opposed to the high cost of education for our children. Senator Sanders is for expanding Social Security and Medicare.
Senator Sanders has many other positions that ring a bell in my chapel. Check him out and join me in supporting him.
*Note. Senator Sander’s entry into this race if nothing else, will highlight the needs of our country and require a response from Hillary and the Republicans and that in itself is a worthy cause.
Should Senator Sanders lose the primary to Hillary, this voter will give full support to Hillary.

And my Friend from the North shares her view

Notestoponder, a blogger from Vancouver, has posted in her blog an opinion piece regarding Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency of the United States.
In reading her blog it appears she considers Hillary to be too boring to be a viable candidate. She is inspired by Elizabeth Warren, a true breath of fresh air.
Hillary is just a replay of days gone by. Nothing inspirational here.

IMHO Hillary is the only chance the Democrats have of winning the White House. She is pragmatic, she knows that in order to win she must have the support of “big” money including Wall Street money.

The Democratic Party has failed in their efforts at delivering a message to the voters that inspires them to get out and vote. This is evident in the results of the last few elections. Republicans came out in numbers significant enough to win numerous races.

The Democrats won the presidency because they had a gimmick, a black candidate. In the upcoming election they will need another gimmick, say a female candidate.

Personally, I think Hillary is further left than she lets on, she did try to get national health care when she was first lady.

Elizabeth Warren has the correct ideas regarding income inequality and I support her fully in her efforts to help the middle class and lower income people in America. However she does not have what it takes to win a national campaign in experience and skill. YET!

I also like Bernie Sanders but his “socialist” tag would be his albatross.
So, while I agree to some extant with Notestoponder, Hillary is boring and just another pawn of the Oligarchs. I do think she is the Democratic Parties only chance of holding the White House.

Ah what a shame, again the lesser of two evils gets my vote.

Link to Notestoponder’s blog here…..

Hillary Clinton A Big Mistake?

Special note to notes, I hope i have not misinterpreted your blog. If so I apologize. 🙂

One Thing I Like About Hillary

Hillary Clinton the anointed one. The presumptive Democratic nominee for President in 2016.
Personally the thing that really thrills me about this lady is the way she makes the hair stand up on the back of the neck of right wing misogynists. 🙂
Having said that, let me share an item I just came across on Facebook. This story typifies the ignorance we are up against in our efforts at regaining control of our government from the Oligarchs.

This has to do with the power of the Koch brothers in controlling the minds of the masses.

A snip from the story here….
“I’m skeptical of government-run programs,” said Louis Stans, a retired engineer who was part of the AFP group. Medicare, Stans said, was “better” and he had “paid into it my whole life.”
Full story here……
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/rebuke-tennessee-governor-koch-group-shows-its-power-n301031
As you can see it is a mighty hill we must climb. But climb we will my friends, climb we will!

Conversing with Republicans

Recently had some discussions with a couple of Republicans of my acquaintance.
One a male college graduate around 50 years old, the other a female in her 40s with some advanced education but not a full college degree.
Both are republicans and proud of it.
The lady lives in a rural area and is married with children, she is mentioned in this blog for only one thing.
While in her presence my phone signaled a text message. I jokingly told her, “excuse me but I have to get this, it may be President Obama”
She immediately replied “Shoot him, if it’s Obama, shoot him.” I looked at her in disbelief and she continued. “I don’t like Obama and I don’t like Hillary either.”
Unfortunately the interchange ended at that point as the male entered the area and took control of the conversation.
I am still trying to determine where this otherwise normal female would express such a vile thought. Does this come from watching Fox or is it something she gets from her church? If I see this lady again I will ask her if she attends church and what church. I do know some folks that attend the church that Sarah Palin attends (Assembly of God?) and they seem to have a hatred for our President Obama.
I had a more lengthy discussion with the man and will post that tomorrow.

Bernie Sanders on Meet the Press

Just watched the segment and personally I thought Senator Sanders did a good job.
Chuck Todd tried to get him into talk about Hillary and the Democratic Party. Tried to get him to criticize both Hillary and President Obama.
Senator Sanders handled himself well, refused to fall for Todd’s goading. Stayed focused and talked about the millions of workers struggling to maintain a lifestyle while the Wall Street millionaires are the only ones enjoying the improved economy in America.
This man has a message that should play well with all working people in this country including the millennials that at one time supported Obama only to be let down.
Todd next went to the panel and bemoaned what he called the lack of fight in Sanders demeanor. He tried to get a fight going and was not successful in his efforts. The senator is too wise for Todd and his manipulative manners.
Later Todd shared President Obama’s 40 percent approval rating. Suggesting this is a bad sign for Democrats with the upcoming mid-terms.
I beg to differ Mr. Todd, the poor rating comes from the issues mentioned by Senator Sanders, and Democrats are poised to take this country back and will do so under the leadership of people like Senator Sanders.
If we vote, we WIN!

Time to ruffle some feathers of my fellow Dems.

A couple things that are taking place right now do not sit well with the general public. And this should be addressed if we expect to regain control of our government.
First some background from my perspective.
Not too long after Barack Obama was first elected to the presidency of the United States a personal acquaintance asked me what I thought about the new president. I replied “Well I am still hoping for the change that was promised.”
While the president has made mighty strides considering the complete obstruction coming from the Republicans, it is the negative actions that tend to sour in the hearts and minds of the enlightened citizens of America today.
By negative actions I am speaking of things like the TPP. This agreement is disliked by many in both the business and the labor community, yet our administration continues on with its efforts at pushing it through. Who, do you suppose, is pulling the strings on this one?
Link to more on this…. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/02-5
Next item of concern is net neutrality. With the FCC being managed by attorneys from Comcast and Verizon how long before we lose our freedom of speech on the internet?
“Many have expressed shock that the Obama administration would walk back one of its biggest promises. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama said that he is a strong supporter of net neutrality. During a question and answer forum in Iowa, Obama explained, “What you’ve been seeing is some lobbying that says that the servers and the various portals through which you’re getting information over the Internet should be able to be gatekeepers and to charge different rates to different Web sites … And that I think destroys one of the best things about the Internet—which is that there is this incredible equality there.”
And again more on this …..
http://www.vice.com/read/former-comcast-and-verizon-attorneys-now-manage-the-fcc-and-are-about-to-kill-the-internet
Now carrying this a step further we find that many wealthy business folk have expressed opinions suggesting if they cannot get Jeb Bush as a candidate for Republican president over some tea party candidate, they will give their support to none other than Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton (Republican lite?)
Personally I think we live in a Plutocracy but studies have only declared it an Oligarchy.
“Researchers from Princeton University and Northwestern University have concluded, after extensive analysis of 1,779 policy issues, that the U.S. is in fact an oligarchy and not a democracy. What this means is that, although ‘Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance,’ ‘majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.’ Their study (PDF), to be published in Perspectives on Politics, found that ‘When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.'”
Is it any wonder the youth of today are staying home during the mid-terms?
Sorry about the lengthy blog today but, these conditions have to be shared and discussed, if we expect to move forward my friends.