Monday, November 21, 2016

Now What? - (This is all political stuff, so you are welcome to ignore it.)

 
Well, it can and it has, hasn't it?  I'm not the only one who thought America had more sense, but was proven wrong once again.  I truly don't know what to say about the results of the election a few weeks ago, although that hasn't stopped me from posting stuff on various social media platforms.  In that way, if no other, I'm like the President-elect.

Demographically I should have been part of those who supported Trump from early on.  I'm a white, Baby Boomer who was raised in a small, town that was 90% or more white while I was growing up.  It wasn't until I was in seventh grade and began attending a larger, middle school in the nearest large city that I had any Black classmates.  I didn't personally know of any Jewish students until I was in high school, although I suppose there had to have been some in middle-school, but not among my friends.

I'm also a veteran and a one-time gun owner, so there should have been something about the Trump agenda to have appealed to me.  The scary part, is that so many of the people I currently know (mostly neighbors in our senior community) were indeed voting for The Donald. Even while saying they scorned or objected to some of the things he said, it was their dislike and distrust of Hillary that seemed to be the main reason for their decision.  That and how much they appeared to dislike, if not outright hate, Obama.

Maybe it was the non-judgmental, pro-Union, Roman Catholic upbringing, most from my mom, but also my father (from whom I get my non-believer genes).  I never heard either ever say anything derogatory about another race or religion. Well, okay, my father did love Polish jokes.

Another thing that I can't understand is how those in my age group, who also lived through the Sixties, ended up going so far to the Right on so many things.  Geez, we were the Peace & Love generation who wanted 'No More War' and mourned the death of Martin Luther King as much as that of Robert Kennedy. What the hell happened to all that?

It's going to be an ugly four years and unless what's left of the Left an the Progressive movements can get much of America off their asses in two years to make some changes, it will be interesting to see what this country I fought for will look like by 2020.  I hope I'm around to find out, but I'm not sure I'll be very happy about it.

Monday, July 11, 2016

Now what should we do?

Been ages since I've done anything here but re-post YouTube videos on some political topic or other.  Figured I would briefly jump in with my own thoughts on a few things.

On a personal note, Donna and I are battling some health issues, but pulling through.  Been almost exactly a year since my first heart attack and my cardiologist tells me I'm doing fine and don't have to see him until early next year.  Donna is working on several issues and we hope to get things under control for some visits we have planned by family and friends from back east.  Also, we do have plans for later in the year for our anniversary.  Damn, can it really be seventeen years already?  

 Anyone reading this knows my political views already, so no surprise that I'm having trouble convincing myself that Hillary Clinton really deserves or needs my vote.  Yeah, everybody keeps reminding me of my voting for Ralph Nader way back when, but I think the Supreme Court decision on Bush v Gore had more to do with that debacle than my decision.  Right now I'm likely to vote for a 'progressive' Third Party candidate for President and Democrat for the down ticket state & local races.  I can flip a coin on whether to vote for Kamala Harris or Loretta Sanchez to replace Senator Barbara Boxer.  Although, I've actually met Rep. Sanchez in person and she was very, nice. That might be enough to swing my vote.

Going to steer clear of any discussion on the mass shootings, police shootings and the tragedy in Dallas.  Needless to say that these are sad situations and it is horrible that the news each night seems to lead off with at least a couple of shootings somewhere in Southern California, let alone around the country.  No matter what your stand on gun ownership and laws I think we can all agree that it appears the whole country is loosing its mind.

Stay safe and stay healthy!  I'll try to post again in a few weeks, or you can see what I'm up to over at Shot's Shack.  I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about San Diego Comic-Con International, as I'll be there once again next week.





Monday, June 20, 2016

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Prince Performs “Purple Rain” During Downpour | Super Bowl XLI Halftime ...

Prince Performs “Purple Rain” During Downpour | Super Bowl XLI Halftime ...

Thursday, March 03, 2016

What the Hell is going on? A few comments on politics.

It's usually pretty easy to ignore the primaries for both major parties, but beginning with the announcement by Donald Trump that he would run for the GOP nomination it became impossible.  What started out as comedy, for who among us thought he would actually get as far as the debates before growing bored, became anything but as The Donald actually began to be taken seriously by a large part of the Republican base.  We're not laughing anymore.

To me the most frightening part is that people whom I like and consider friends, are actually saying that they might vote for Trump.   They agree that he is over the top on much that he says, but they are rightly angered at politics as usual as we are seeing it performed in Washington and around the country.  If Trump were running on some minor Third party ticket we could still find his quest somewhat amusing, but the fact that the U.S. is for the most part a two-party country he might very well be the Republican nominee.  By the way, if you sit down and read the Constitution you won't find Political Parties mentioned in there, this might come as a surprise to a great many people who just accept the Democrats and Republicans as a natural part of our system.  I don't believe I realized this until I was in high school and one of my history teachers spoke about just that.

Anybody who knows me can pretty well guess where I stand on the political scale.  The fact that I support Bernie Sanders, certainly shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.  Sadly, I expect that by the time the primaries get around to California the choice will pretty much have been made, which seems to be the case and frankly makes no sense.  Why do two very important and populace states like New York and California get in rather late, with NY voting in April and California sitting it out until June?  In the case of this election both major parties might already be made in a choice terms of delegates.  How do places like Iowa, South Carolina and the rest get to make the decisions?  Call it bias, I guess, having lived in both of the states I mentioned.

It's still early, but the GOP seems to be in the midst of self-destructing and many Democrats appear to be happy with things remaining status quo.  This old Progressive/Liberal may be about to bail finally. Voting the lesser of two evils really doesn't seem to me what democracy is all about.