Mira
Mira's JournalNo dementia for president, please: Washington Post opinion / Garrison Keillor
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How did we wind up with these old people running for president? In 1960, the first election I voted in, Richard Nixon was 47 and John Kennedy was 43 and now, 56 years later, the candidates are mostly my age. Young people are flocking to Bernie Sanders who, given two terms in office, would be Leader of the Free World until age 83, setting a new record -- Ronald Reagan was just shy of 78. Where is that new generation of leadership we keep hearing about at college commencements?
They say the voters long for a leader unlike the previous one and so after Nixon the schemer we elected the Baptist deacon. He turned out to be a detail guy and so was succeeded by a guy who thought in terms of Shining Good vs. Very Very Bad. After W, we elected a man who spoke in whole paragraphs. He was 47 when he took office. So now we're longing for elder care and the full disclosure of the presidential prostate and colonoscopy analysis?
Speaking as an old guy, let me just say: Blecchhhhh.And let me add to that: Arghhhh. I don't want a president who is groping for the word that means "no" and rhymes with "mosquito" or who needs to lie down every afternoon. Tell me I'm an ageist and you're right -- I come by it honestly, I am that age. It's a cruel age when you go out to dinner with friends and someone says, "Elevator or stairs?" and you shrug and take the stairs though you do feel short of breath and sit down in the restaurant which is clamorous and you can't hear, which is a blessing, because your friends are telling bald-faced lies about how busy and happy they are, writing bad poetry and walking briskly with no particular place to go.
for all of it go to:
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/04/no_dementia_for_president_plea.html
We know this. Yes. But it's a top notch description of what it means to be transgender. LTE in NC
LETTER TO THE EDITORWinsston-Salem Journal, Sunday Apr. 17, 2016
DR. LEWIS H. NELSON
Misunderstanding transgender
The specter of a male entering a bathroom designated for female has been used as the basis for part of HB2. Sadly, that argument reflects misunderstanding of what transgendered means.
Gender is self-determined as either female or male. Sex is determined by chromosome makeup, XX female or XY male. When gender identity and sex identity do not match, the diagnosis is gender identity disorder.
Because gender identification usually occurs by age 3, affected individuals often grow up in a world of conflicts, depression, divorce, alcoholism and suicide as they struggle to understand why they are different from peers, and why parents force them into behaviors they do not want. Many are bullied as children.
Those with families that recognize this are able to medically delay puberty and allow time to make a personal decision about their desired gender.
The unfortunate majority struggle to find their place in the world until, with medical care, they transition to the gender with which they identify. They are faced with expensive, painful surgical procedures and possible loss of jobs, families and friends.
For some, although their birth anatomy may have not yet been altered or that, for medical or expense reasons, it never will be changed, they live full time as their chosen gender.
It is these people that HB2 is affecting. People, who through no choice, driven by a biological event occurring in their brains in utero, are told they cannot be who they really are. They have suffered enough.
Nelson is an Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. — the editor
www.journalnow.com
We had a neighborhood dilemma, stood up against it, and we lost
A large flower shop, built only 7 years before, was demolished after the flower shop moved and sold the land and building to Family Dollar.
We are an older neighborhood, historic, in NC, we are very diverse and wonderful. We fought tooth and nail with meetings, with petitions, the city council, and with hundreds of yard signs of “Family Dollar / NO”
It made no difference.
The site was razed and the store was built and in a week it will be open.
On a fence bordering the parking lot over which they have no control and that they do not own words started to appear. They were individually lettered and randomly nailed up. They did not make sense, during construction more words appeared, one every now and then, and this week it began to coalesce and read:
"Why would Family Dollar build a store in the middle of a neighborhood that asked it not to?
That’s what a 16 Billion Dollar corporate Bully does!”
As you can see it is a neighborhood full of artists.
That’s how we can make ourselves feel a little better, because they cannot take it down. And our not patronizing the store will make a difference to their not having listened.
it’s easier for me to beg forgiveness than to ask permission - aftermath photos added
Rolling into town on the interstate, with a friend in my truck, we saw the plumes of fiery smoke in the downtown area. I looked at her and said: “I have 3/4 of a tank, let’s go find it” and her answer was “It will make me feel young again, my Dad always chased fires.”
It used to be my job to draw city street maps. We found the fire even though it was in a remote area.
Now,until the newspaper comes out in the morning, I have no answers about if anyone was hurt, or even how big a house burned down.The fire was so bad it looked like the place must have been full of explosives- the neighborhood is poor, the house was probably small, can’t imagine what might have caused that big a deal. I assume and hope everyone got out. That house though, it surely went down!
In my habit of not gracefully asking permission I got shooed off by police men. Numerous times. The entrances to the area were blocked off by cop cars. The fire trucks suggested a many alarm fire.
I found a side yard without cops from which I could slip onto the property. I am not proud to report that one of the firemen trained his hose on me to get me out of there ——from afar —— and for just a brief time.
By then I had a small entourage of residents and my friend as well who had told them I was a real photographer. They cheered me and they all noticed I had gotten hit with water before I did.
It was a harrowing adventure, and I’ll take you through what I saw from start to finish.
By the way, I’m pretty sure it was the right guy in the last shot who turned the hose on me.
Honestly, I understand. I’m insufferable at times.
Yesterday afternoon I went to see the aftermath. There was stale smoke in the air, and two men on the front porch questioned me (and my camera around my neck) in a hesitating but not too unfriendly way. I nodding about the horror of fire in order to look just as innocent as I am and slowly moved towards their back yard and the supposed "shed" burned to the ground.
It must have been unbelievably huge compared to the house they live in which I shot from the side, stealthily. Something wicked this way came. And I don't think it was just a thirteen fire engine fire. I did not tarry and got out of there.
My son told me I missed my true calling: War correspondent.
A tree I met today.
For a good while my camera has rested for a number of reasons. But I had it at hand today when I met this gorgeous tree as I got out of my car.
These are the result of a half a minute. I’m glad I took them, and I’m glad that I’ll be back to taking photos. It’s a given.
Bill Maher lineup of guests tonight. HBO 10 EST repeat at midnight EST
The Interview:Arianna Huffington is the Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post and author of The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time.
The Panel:
Amy Goodman is the Host and Executive Producer for “Democracy Now!” and co-author of Democracy Now! Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America.
Mary Katharine Ham is a CNN contributor and a senior writer at The Federalist where her latest article is, “Ivanka Trump is Everything Donald Wants to be But Is Not.”
Rick Tyler is an MSNBC political analyst and former spokesman for Newt Gingrich and Ted Cruz.
Mid-Show Interview:
Susan Sarandon is an activist and Oscar-winning actress who is the executive producer and star of “The Meddler,” which opens in theaters on April 22.
Works well for the present day North Carolina
but don't worry, it's temporary, we are working on it all the time, as hard as we can, til we can toss out the disrupters
Ben Carson Says He Has No Memory of Running for President — says Andy Borowitz
WEST PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, stirred controversy on Thursday by saying in a televised interview that he had no recollection of running for President of the United States.
Appearing on the Fox News Channel, Dr. Carson responded to host Sean Hannity’s question about his ten-month-long candidacy by saying, “I do not recall any of that occurring.”
“I’ve been told that I did it, but I find it impossible to believe,” he said. “I don’t think I’d forget a thing like that.”
Dr. Carson said he had seen photographs and videos of him campaigning for the Republican nomination but called them “the work of an evil person who is really good at PhotoShop and whatnot.”
He said he did not know who would create such an elaborate hoax to convince him that he had run for President “when I clearly did not,” but he speculated about the person’s motives.
“Someone is trying to mess with my mind,” he said. “And when I find out who is doing that I will make them pay dearly.”
While Carson insisted that “there is no way I ran for President,” he did not rule out running for the Republican nomination in the future.
“I think I’d be really good at it,” he said.
www.borowitzreport.com
In 15 min --- 11:30 EST Bernie is on with Larry Wilmore on the Nightly Show
had I known this sooner, I would have posted it then.
No One in Nation Notices Total Disappearance of Chris Christie—except Andy Borowitz
TRENTON (The Borowitz Report)—No one in the United States has taken note of the total disappearance of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who vanished from view several weeks ago.
In interviews with residents across the country, few if any Americans displayed interest in, or concern about, the whereabouts of Christie, who, until he disappeared, had been a once-prominent political figure.
"I hadn’t really thought about him until you mentioned it,” said Trenton resident Carol Foyler, echoing the opinions of many others in the Garden State.
“Huh,” she added.
Tracy Klugian, a resident of Teaneck, said that it took him a moment to remember who Christie was, but then acknowledged that it was “kind of weird” that he had disappeared.
“I mean, he used to be here and now he’s not,” he said. “Whatever.”
At the University of Minnesota, the historian Davis Logsdon said it was “highly unusual” for a governor of such a major state to simply drop off the radar without anyone noticing.
“Chris Christie’s disappearance raises a whole host of questions,” he said. “Where did he go? When did he leave? Does he plan to come back? To be honest with you, I don’t care.”
Efforts to contact Governor Christie for this article were not made.
www.borowitzreport.com
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