A Fishy Benediction

May you only catch edible things,

and nothing hunt you that thinks you are too.

May the mosquitoes find you taste bad,

but the fish love all your baits.

 

May the water be peaceful, deep and full of life.

May your tackle box be full, and your tools sharp as a knife.

May your old friends be rested and tell soothing tales.

May you not run out of water, snacks and ales.

 

May the time pass slowly and you enjoy the stars on high.

May you hear birds sing and animal calls.

and hear the wind sing in the trees.

May the sun smile on you and your companions too.

 

May the fish you catch be as big as you describe.

and may you leave the place as beautiful as you find it.

May you "leave no traces" except nature's smile.

Christopher Hartly Holte

Fear and the Trumpster

The Republicans depend on negative emotions to mobilize their base and win over other voters. That is not new. It's been a feature of American Politics since the 50s. Donald Trump lives on fear. And he's scaring people all over the world. Even the new Prime Minister of Canada had to comment on Donald Trump today. Praise him or attack him, the Trumpster wins from the fear. This is good for the GOP. The more afraid voters are the more "stupid" switches turn on and we are likely to make "BREXIT" scale idiotic decisions. We can beat them if we don't let fear beat us and listen to FDR.

FDR said it. "The only thing we need to fear, is fear itself:"

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/

The Difference between a Prophet or a Leader and a Critic

Yes Bernie Globalization is Failing the 99%

Yes our current structures protect "private, separate advantage" regimes of trade, monetary policy and legal protections that protect the rights and privileges of a select few. Really more a .1% than a one percent. They are engineered to protect neo-colonial features. Those features turn most of the world into either drive-by neo-colonies or fly-over neo-colonies. And yes, they are tyranny and oppression.

He's right. It is tyranny. Of a very special kind. One we engineered, first as step children of the European Colonial adventure, and then as the dominant power in the world.

Yes Bernie, WE Need to Wake up

So here's the thing: At one time those features benefited this country.

Yes, that degraded a long time ago. Employers, seeking low wages and playing off governors against governors, north against south, and then country against country; headed south in the 70s and then kept traveling south and East and West til former enemies were competing for jobs we once performed at home and former friends, offended, have been wondering WTH is going on. Globalization mostly has meant offshoring since the 80s began. We can talk about NAFTA, CAFTA, etc... but these are symptoms of a trade regime negotiated for big industry, the wealthy and a tiny pool of very wealthy trade lawyers. And it is a three fingered thing. But does Bernie Sanders mention any of this? No, He's a politician not a prophet or an analyst.

And that is why we need Hillary

Humpty Trumpety

Humpty Trumpety sat on his wall.
He had the other eggs all in a thrall.
All the Kings Horses and all the Kings men,
Couldn't get to him for fear of stepping on them.
But then all the eggs got hot and began to crack.
And along came the local cats, to have a nice snack.

It takes a Party, it takes a Movement

Watching Leadership take a Leadership Role; House Sit ins and William J Barber

Bernie Sanders obliquely called us Democrats "political cowards" in his latest broadside at the party. He wrote this even as he ran from the Senate End of the capital to the House End to try to steal some thunder from John Lewis and his Civil Disobedience on the House Floor. John Lewis, one of the courageous democrats that he and his surrogates were accusing of "political cowardice" only hours before, had the moral courage to actually work with others and stage a sit in. What Lewis is doing is a little more consequential than a filibuster. The term for it is Civil Disobedience. There are consequences for Civil Disobedience beyond the need to eat or use the Potty. As my hero Doctor William J. Barber explains, talking about the Moral Monday's Movement:

[Rule #3] "A moral movement draws power not from its ability to overwhelm opposition but from its willingness to suffer. The Second Reconstruction brought large-scale nonviolent direct action to America through the Montgomery bus boycott. A Third Reconstruction depends upon escalating noncooperation in order to demonstrate our capacity to sacrifice for a better future." [Third Reconstruction]

The Trouble with Bernie Sanders -- Final

Bernie Sanders writes an "apologia" for his campaign in today's Washington Post. It opens with this statement:

"As we head toward the Democratic National Convention, I often hear the question, “What does Bernie want?” Wrong question. The right question is what the 12 million Americans who voted for a political revolution want."

That has been the problem. Bernie still has not one idea of the impact of his own personality, foibles, paranoia and unwillingness to work with others. It is not what the 12 million people who voted for him want. He didn't lead a "political revolution." That is a grandiose statement. He led a political campaign. And his efforts to cast his quest for the Presidency as a "revolution" are part of the problem. He told people what he wanted. They liked what he said. They followed him. He didn't follow them. This is hubris, plain and simple. There is a sense of "we" versus "you" not "we" are part of a greater "us." He acts like he only represents the 12 million people who voted for him and not the needs and aspirations of the whole party and country. And it's a minority not democracy the way he formulates it.

He still puts the campaign in terms that absolve himself of responsibility for a firm stand or mistakes and cast the fight as "me"/"us" versus them. With the "them" including most of us Democrats.

Respecting the power of people to help themselves

Chelsea's Heroic Efforts in Haiti

Sadly when I hear "journalist" my mind often thinks "hack" nowadays. There are a few Journalists who still have my respect. But not as many as too many of the ones I once relied on for good reporting have proven recently to be either sloppy, naive, dense or to have editors determined to use headlines to say the opposite of what the material they are reporting says. It's amazing. A good example of this sloppy click bait journalism was a politico article from September last year, titled: "The Clintons’ Haiti Screw-Up, As Told By Hillary’s Emails, The family still doesn't know how to wield its own power." I read this story and the text within it had almost no relationship to the headline! The Author, Jonathan Katz, is trying to make Chelsea Clinton's memo into part of a narrative about corruption and power that was just not there. If you ask me those efforts were heroic.