August 9, 2016

Im OK with voting for HRC, the lesser of 5 evils- those evils being, in order of evilness -

1) Trump
2) McMullen
3 & 4) Johnson / Stein (tie - with slight preference for Johnson & his having more real world experiences)
5) Clinton

We have a dualistic, either-or system. Don't like it? Work to change it.

Thanks to BERNIE and his impact on both the DNC and its process and on the platform and his assurances that he will hold her feet to the fire - Clinton candidacy has become downright palatable (insert smilie face here) !!!! And I respect that Ms. Clinton has been keeping active in govt roles the last 8 yrs - unlike some of these perennial candidates who come out of the woodwork every 4 years for fun and games, presumably on an expense account provided for by party donations.

July 17, 2016

Earth to Jill Steiners - the US political system is BINARY - your choice like it or not is a middle

of the road corporatist Dem who has been persuaded to add some pretty good populist/progressive

.... or an outright unapologetic Neo-fascist backed by Kochs and others now that Pence is in the game.

Do yall understand that there very possibly is no coming back from the latter?

April 27, 2016

And you know this was orchestrated by HRC - how? You young whippersnappers seem to have no clue re

the history of dissent and activism and the lengths to which the opposition goes to sow seeds of suspicion and destroy dissenters - provocateurs, Cointelpro, infiltration, etc. (and how to resist it). Classic divide and conquer - one would think activists in our state would be wise to that by now and capable of discerning it in ALL its manifestations.

Do you think the apparatus and motivation to destroy political enemies all just went away, now that communications happen more digitally vs. inperson and by phone???? NO. It changed along with the technology.

If we're doomed - I daresay it will be because too many of yall are on Facebook absorbed in your self-contained belief systems repeating hearsay amongst yourselves and not taking in information from elsewhere.

ME, I voted for BS in large part because he clearly stated that if he didn't go on to the general election he would use his power to effect change in the platform (short term goal) and in the party (long term). He is not going to take his toys and go home like some of yall apparently.

Y'all don't speak for for every BS voter in this state. You may think from the DU forum (yikes) that BS and HRC supporters are mortal enemies but in the world where I live - taint necessarily so. A recent survey (sorry no time to google it) said 70% of Dem voters think the discussion/debate is healthy & energizing.... a good thing.

Ask yourselves - in whose interest is it that BS & HRC supporters end up as mortal enemies? And then act accordingingly.

Old fart signing off.

February 12, 2016

thnx - this is and should be a national discussion not only MI - happened to see this in the latest

threads section- you may want to cross post this in gen discussion or somewhere. Yes - this is indeed our future, assuming we continue on the same trajectory, and we need to be screaming this from the rooftops. At first I wondered how the R's would spin it, how can they demonize D's & fed govt when they are groveling for fed funds to fix it?

But sure enough they find away. They always do. They blame OBAMA & the EPA for dragging their feet to not enforce the regs when the lead poisoning became apparent.... which is true, but they conveniently forget that the EPA DID IN FACT provide them instruction in 2011 on how to make the water safe - MI R's CHOSE TO IGNORE IT when they designed the new system.

February 8, 2016

two of my closest calls

Interesting stories - thnx for the invitation to participate. I was expecting these stories would be the classic NDE - you know, leaving the body and moving to the bright light - which Ive not experienced, except possibly on acid once in my wild youth when there was this annoying bright light following me around. But it looks like NDE can be defined many ways.

My two are somewhat similar in that they both involved flying through the air and crashing to the ground, and experiencing time slowing down ...

One time was... I was walking on a dark lonely stretch of back road, to get from a funky old K-mart to the bus stop. It was early 80s and at the time my Midwestern city was known as being ridiculously safe- there wasn't anywhere you couldn't go or be afraid of, at any time of the day or night. At least that's how it was until this experience. It was every woman's worst fear - you hear the footsteps coming up behind you and you wonder what's going to happen. Usually its nothing, but this time the footsteps quicken and before I could really run, there's the hand clamped around my mouth, I'm picked up by what I later realized was two guys and thrown to the ground. In the eternity before Im thrown to the ground its like Im watching the scene and I wonder .... where are they taking me, what are they going to do with me? It's like - it could be anything! Rape? Murder? No, thankfully they just wanted my shoulder bag so they were just grabbing and wrestling it off of me before throwing me to the ground and running off with it. Only then did I see clearly that it was two guys. Then I see that my wallet (containing money, bus pass etc.) had fallen out and I picked it up and went back to Kmart to call the cops.

It was about 3 hours before I stopped shaking and 3 months before I could tolerate anyone standing or walking behind me - even in full daylight with a lot of people around. Even now I hate the sound of joggers running up behind me on the sidewalk.

Second time was.... riding my bike in winter. People say you can do it, and yeah.... spoze you can, if you have the right tires. I didn't. I hit glare ice right as a bus was passing me --- as Im flying through the air I could feel the bus grazing my leg. Again as Im airborne there's that same sense of time slowing down, wondering wtf is going to happen, is this the day I die? Thankfully, it wasn't.

February 1, 2016

WELL OK BUT....if it comes down to it Ill take "right of Obama" to off-the-charts facism

Vote your heart and mind during the primary but sure as heck don't want to hear this quibbling come November - whoever the dem nominee is.

Should repubs control all branches of govt on both federal and state level - you wont even know what hit you. Im from WI where we have some experience in witnessing the undoing of 100 yrs of progressivism - it truly is Shock Doctrine USA style and once they get going they don't stop. Once they get to selling off public assets there's no un-do button or legislation that can get it back. We've had some of that already... but mostly a lot of laying of groundwork for future pillaging and turning it over to corporate interests - eg removing obstacles to municipalities selling off their water supply/infrastructure to private co.s, removing obstacles to foreign entities buying unlimited quantiies of WI land, etc. Since WI with its 14000 lakes is sitting on/ adjacent to some of largest freshwater resources in the world, you can see why they want to get their greedy mitts on WI. Water they say is going to be the new oil.

Anyway I digress. Point is- sometimes the lesser of evils is a GOOD thing. Buys us a lil more time if nothing else!

Full disclosure: I do intend to vote for Mr Sanders - possibly Martin Omalley just to reward him for doing a good job as a candidate but if it comes to voting for Ms Clinton - you bet I will.

January 25, 2016

Heres the fact of the matter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_and_Copper_Rule

EPA published the Lead and Copper Rule Minor Revisions (LCRMR) in January 2000. This rule required water suppliers to install the best available corrosion control mechanisms and to continually observe water levels, even if corrosion control was implemented.

May I also refer you to 2011 study that stated Flint river water would require anticorrosion b4 safe to use as drinking water (google it).

Sigh. Maybe its not your intention but it sounds like you're trying to let the criminally negligent perps off the hook

Id certianly agree that infrastructure of all types need updating but you know what .... t he radical RW and their disaster capitalist cronies don't seem to be the least bit interested in replacing old lead pipes in old urban rust belt cities. How do you propose working around that?

January 25, 2016

HEY Drathaar & ev - pls read up on this specific case before commenting! It was caused by whoever

decided they didn't need to follow the fed regulations re: adding anti-corrosion agents to the water supply.

LOTS of other cities have old lead piping without people dying and suffering permanent impairments because of it.

Someone decided they didn't need to follow no stinkin water regulations. THAT should be the person(s) who get fired.

Not some low level paper shuffler.