The Clock Is Ticking, the Fuse Is Lit, and It's Time To Get Serious About the Midterms

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Friday June 17, 2022 · 11:52 AM PDT

2022/06/17 · 11:52

I haven’t posted a Blog in a long time. This one is short and will draw your attention to two very important things:

The hearings have been focused on painting TFG’s post-election White House as El Cheeto surrounded by reasonable Republicans all telling him that he lost the election fairly, with a few nut-jobs and drunks telling him what he wanted to hear. We need to disabuse ourselves of this idea that there are reasonable Republicans somewhere out there, when we have all the evidence we need that the goal of the Republicans is to establish a one-party corporate state. BTW, this is the exact definition of fascism.

We also need to listen carefully to what Bernie has been saying lately about the failure of the Democratic establishment to stand up and fight for the things that large majorities of Americans want and support.

A draw your attention to two recent pieces in the Guardian:

Bernie's Op-Ed

The Elephant in the Room

I apologize for the shortness of this piece, but please read the articles and let’s have a serious discussion.

Leadership in Times of Crisis

boatwright

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Monday March 23, 2020 · 5:06 AM PDT

2020/03/23 · 05:06

Hey Joe, “here’s the deal”……….

We are faced with an unprecedented worldwide health crisis. In the US, millions will be infected, thousands if not millions will die.

Our health care system will be overwhelmed.

Our economy has already lurched to a stop. A third of our families, those living paycheck to paycheck have no money. People are already going hungry.

We have a self-absorbed occupant of the White House who is doing everything but lead. We know this, and we don’t need campaign ads to point it out.

What we do need in leadership is: Truth; Reassurance; Useful, detailed information on how to best take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Joe, as the presumptive candidate for President considering the lack of leadership by the current occupant of that office, you and the rest of your party need to step forward. We suggest you gather other Democratic leaders (and any Republicans who are willing to cast of the thrall of King Donnie) along with medical, public health, public safety, and educational experts, and demand an hour of informational airtime every evening, for as long as necessary, to inform and reassure the American people.

This leadership vacuum must be filled. If you really want to be President, it’s up to you to lead us now and quit fooling around with campaign ads. The future will take care of itself; today and the next weeks are what we need to be dealing with.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a diary but I felt this really needed to be said.

Maybe It Is Time for a Wider Boycott

boatwright

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Sunday February 18, 2018 · 8:43 AM PST

2018/02/18 · 08:43

I realize this post is shorter than the guidelines …………

It’s overdue for progressives to organize a wide ranging advertiser boycott similar to the VERY effective anti-Rush Limbaugh boycott against those companies that directly or indirectly support publications such as the National Enquirer (I would include the thousands of grocery stores that insult their customers everyday by having their trash right at the eye-level of our children), outdoor magazines that promote the gun-culture and th NRA, media networks such as Fox, etc., etc., etc..

The anti-Limbaugh folks developed a very effective internet platform for listing and reporting on advertisers who supported that creep. How about the same for a wider range of issues important to us all?

What are your thoughts?

Shouting fire in a crowded theater

boatwright

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Tuesday December 18, 2012 · 7:14 AM PST

2012/12/18 · 07:14

There is always a need to balance our constitutional rights against the needs of our society for peace, safety, and fellowship.

boatwright

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Wednesday December 05, 2012 · 2:44 PM PST

2012/12/05 · 14:44

It would help a bunch if all candidates for public office, especially those Republicans who think government is "just like any other business" were required to take introductory college Economics 101. There is a major problem with the unquestioned belief in money as something tangible, fixed, and as a real substance: a Pot o' Gold, a Scrooge McDuck Money Bin, or what we will be discussing today, the Social Security Trust Fund.

None of these things exist in the magical ways that we are led to believe, first as children and then by the pronouncements of leading politicians. The question is: Whether it's the money in your wallet or the billions in the SS Trust Fund, what are savings? Time for some non-magical thinking below the fold.

boatwright

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Tuesday November 27, 2012 · 5:30 AM PST

2012/11/27 · 05:30

The denial of climate research and science in general is, I am afraid, only a small part of the problem.

Right now, I sit in an electrified, gas heated building, typing on a fossil fuel powered computer, with my gasoline powered car in the driveway, enjoying an healthy protein-rich diet, which was grown, harvested, transported, delivered, and cold stored with carbon fueled machines. I wonder how many of us would be willing or even able in a practical sense to give up the civilized comforts we are accustomed to?

Poll

253 votes Show Results

What, Me Worry?

253 votes Vote Now!

What, Me Worry?

We're screwed.

140 votes

We're screwed, but maybe they'll figure something out.

87 votes

Don't worry, the scientists have got it covered.

5 votes

Don't worry, Pat Robertson has got it covered.

3 votes

Don't worry, Jesus saves.

1 vote

I'm still trying to finish the left-over Turkey.

16 votes

Nuclear Anxieties

boatwright

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Thursday March 17, 2011 · 10:03 AM PDT

2011/03/17 · 10:03

The anxious quality of the discussion about the events in Japan prompted my to post a couple of long comments to an excellent plain-language diary on nuclear energy and the health effects of radiation by Dr. Linda Shelton. I decided to combine the comments into a diary entry here. Some obvious questions are not being asked.

More below the fold:

boatwright

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Wednesday October 20, 2010 · 6:08 AM PDT

2010/10/20 · 06:08

There has been quite a bit of news lately about Chinese efforts to monopolize the production of rare-earth minerals necessary for the manufacture of modern electronic devices. There is also a great deal of worry being expressed about competition for other resources, with a mostly political and macro-economic slant to the arguments about what we might do about the problem. It seems that most of this noise fails to address a larger and much more important problem. Let's leave the political aside.

boatwright

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Tuesday March 17, 2009 · 6:03 AM PDT

2009/03/17 · 06:03

I make my living as a craftsman. Working with one's hands for a living gives the mind freedom to puzzle about the news of the day. Yesterday was sunny, the first really warm afternoon since last November. We had the shop door up, the dog was rolling around on a patch of newly revealed grass, Ed Schultz's excellent progressive radio show was on the Internet, and AIG was getting a well deserved reaming. One thing clearly on everyone's mind these days: Why did we get in this mess and where did all the money go?

When I got home and checked into KOS, I was pleased to find an excellent analysis by Pluto, revealing a steaming pile of details. The light-bulb came on and my own struggle with trying to figure out it snapped into focus. It's those damned frat boys again. War, financial panic, and the accompanying social disintegration all serve the narrow interests of these pricks and their social peers. Whether it's an outright scammer like Bernie Madoff, or the legal thievery of AIG, Wall Street, and the bankers, it's always the same story.

Poll

57 votes Show Results

What about the Bankers?

57 votes Vote Now!

What about the Bankers?

Bankers are idiots

1 vote

Bankers are thieves

15 votes

Bankers are the jerks who made you miserable in high-school

1 vote

All of the above

36 votes

Tsk, tsk. Mind your manners. Bankers are SUPERIOR people.

4 votes

The New "Normal" at American Schools

boatwright

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Tuesday February 24, 2009 · 9:29 PM PST

2009/02/24 · 21:29

"Normal" isn't what it used to be. American education will never be the solution we all want it to be unless we look soberly at what is actually going on in our schools.

Poll

44 votes Show Results

It's simple, just test the teachers.

44 votes Vote Now!

It's simple, just test the teachers.

It's simple, just test the kids.

3 votes

It's simple, just test Sarah Palin's future son-in-law.

4 votes

Macaroni and cheese

4 votes

Sweat, love, tears, and money please.

33 votes

Funeral Planning in Detroit

boatwright

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Thursday December 04, 2008 · 6:42 PM PST

2008/12/04 · 18:42

For a born and bred Michigander it's hard to say, but I'm afraid the Big Three automakers, GM, Ford, & Chrysler, are soon to be no more. It is hard to imagine life around here without them, but cold hard realities can no longer be denied.

boatwright

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Sunday November 02, 2008 · 7:28 PM PST

2008/11/02 · 19:28

I live in a small town in Northern Lower Michigan. I just got home from a very satisfying/inspiring day phone-banking and canvassing for Obama. There was amazing energy at our local storefront campaign headquarters: eight phones going; dozens of folks stopping by to say hi and pick up yard signs, etc.; homemade cookies and a crockpot full of sloppy-joes that someone dropped off; a seventeen year-old local high-school senior manning the phone to state headquarters, organizing data and phone lists like a pro....

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The Clock Is Ticking, the Fuse Is Lit, and It's Time To Get Serious About the Midterms

Leadership in Times of Crisis

Maybe It Is Time for a Wider Boycott

Shouting fire in a crowded theater

The Pot o' Gold & Social Security -- Republican Magical Thinking vs: Economics 101

Climate Change Denialism -- A view from the top of the food chain

Nuclear Anxieties

Magical Thinking And Our Economic Future

Where Oh Where Did the Money Go?

The New "Normal" at American Schools

Funeral Planning in Detroit

Yes We Can!