Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

The great debate at the moment, among Berniecrats (which is the main debate I pay attention to, this is the echo chamber I have chosen, which makes sense because there are no people  I  trust more than people who agree  with  me) is should Bernie run again  as a Democrat or should he go third party.

Of course, Bernie might decide not  to run again, to throw his weight behind a younger, rising star. (yes, of course I’m talking about Tulsi Gabbard – who else?)  Nonetheless, the issue would still remain.  To try  to reform the Democratic party from within, as women try to reform their abusive, alcoholic boyfriends, or to go for the gusto and run 3rd party.

I see an argument for both sides.  On the one side, the Democrats have made it abundantly clear that they would rather eat broken glass than revert to  being the progressive party they once were.  On the other, Bernie has some (i.e. a great deal) of experience at running 3rd party – and losing.  His career only took off when he ditched the socialist label and ran for mayor of Burlington as an independent.
Here’s what I think he should do:  set some conditions.

1. a million party members, pledged or actually registered by June 1st.  That part should be a piece of cake.  Put the word out on the internet and they’re there.

2.  a party platform, including green jobs (my personal favorite), money out of politics, tax reform (make the rich fuckers pay their share), free college, medicare for all, and  maybe marijuana legalization (another of my personal  favorites) and abortion rights, (I consider that an issue of  far less importance than it  is afforded in public discourse, but I know  a lot of  women consider it a litmus test).  This would be the easiest of  all to accomplish, since  it’s basically his  standard speech.

3.  A name.  This could be put up to a poll of party members.  Or Bernie could decide, because a popular vote might result in something like ‘Party McPartyface.’

4.  This  one is  key, and might be the hardest.  Congressional candidates  in all 435 districts, in time for the 2018 elections. I’d set a deadline of, say, January 1st, 2018.  Maybe a bit later, since it’s not a presidential  election year.

That’s about it.  Achievable, and once achieved, it would put a viable – key word, viable – new party in place.  The Democratic party  would wither  on the vine, with their membership either defecting to the Republicans or to the new party.

Even if it was a 50/50 split (and I don’t think it would  be) the new party would be in a good position, because Bernie’s policies are good policies, and will appeal to independents.

“Sometimes nothin’ is a real cool hand,” said Paul Newman in the film which took its title from that line.  That can be interpreted more than one way, I suppose, but here’s one significant thing that happened today.

It was my  last class.  I was burned out, they are 2nd graders, 7 and 8 years old, and I  spend far too great a portion of  it pulling children out from under desks, asking them to  get down off the  tops of  the desks, trying to get the silent ones to say something and the rest of them (by far the greater number) to shut up.  One exercise  I have become dependent on, maybe over dependent, is flashcards.  There are any number of ways you can play, but with this group basically they are all just shouting out whatever the picture is and I’m happy enough that most of them know words like  ‘elephant,’ ‘apple’ and ‘window’ that all ambitions off  teaching things like full  sentences drop by  the  wayside.

Well, if that  wasn’t abdication enough of my responsibility to teach the ungrateful little ankle-biters English, one girl, who is of the doesn’t talk much camp, asked if she  could be the one to show the cards; in  essence, to play teacher.  Not wanting to be and , too tired for an argument, I said yeah, sure.   Of course that  meant that a whole bunch of other students immediately made the same request, and now could not  be denied, because once you’ve  opened the door, you’ve opened the door.

Basically, all she had to do was say “Ready, steady, boom!” as she flipped  over each card (they can all do the Mr. Watson impersonation pretty good) and decide  which kid to give the card  to when  they all  shouted out the answer at once.

But, that’s something.  Also, it gave me a chance to stand at the back of the room, move around a bit, and keep the ADHD contingent under some semblance of control.

I wouldn’t say  it was a great lesson, but we got through it without me actually screaming, and most of the kids had a good time, which is important.  I don’t want them to think learning English isn’t fun.

It isn’t over  until  we win.   This explains why Bernie  is still  out there, fighting for medicare for all, while most Democrats are doing diddly squat outside of whining.  Because we  are still  trying to win, and they are still  crying about their well deserved loss.

It’s a slogan I quite like, because it gives  me hope for the future, long term.

My short term hope is a court case which begins tomorrow.  It’s the class action lawsuit that was  brought against the DNC back in June, before the Democratic convention even, by  people who donated to  the DNC and are pissed off that that money went straight into the Clinton campaign.  The suit claims that Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the DNC at that time,  and her staff overtly violated article four, section 5 of the DNC Charter, which says “The Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.”

I sure hope the court rules against the DNC.  I doubt that anybody’s going to jail, but if it’s at least entered into the official  record that they cheated, that will make things a lot  easier.

If the court  finds against us, which is a definite possibility,  (right is on our side, but courts are capricious institutions, no doubt about it) then our struggle  will  continue.  Because it will not  be over until we’ve won.

Well, Helena’s take on the French election:  “Macron?  Sounds like the cookie.”  She meant macarons, which are not the same as macaroons.  Anyway, I don’t know much more about him, except for the  fact that his wife was his drama teacher when  he was 15 and she was well into her 30s, but they’re still together and  all  power to ’em, and the all  important fact that he  is not  Le Pen.
If I’d known nothing at all about Hillary , I might have  supported her as well, but we knew what we knew and it  was unacceptable.

But, it makes me think about the  difference  between left and right, and here’s how I see  it:  Right wingers believe that  it’s every man for  himself, you are responsible  for your own  destiny, and left wingers believe that we’re all in the same boat and we have to help each other and work together as a team.

That means it’s kind of  silly  either to identify as a complete right winger or a complete left  winger,  because life is complex and the same philosophy doesn’t apply in all situations.  Of course we live and die alone and we are, ultimately, responsible for  our own happiness.  But, if you’re drowning in the middle of the ocean for whatever reason (hey, people drink, it happens), you’re going to want a helicopter to fly by and rescue your ass, even if that makes you a socialist, which it does.

Contrariwise, you can be left wing to within an inch of falling over  the edge, you still  don’t want the government to take ALL your money.
When you think about it, almost everybody  is within the two extremes, which is why they’re called extremes.

So, let’s talk issues.

Hard to write with all the noise,

a flat full of screaming 14 year old boys.

Not really that extreme, two of Sam’s friends from the football  team (they lost today, 0-2) are spending the night, so of course  they are playing sports on x-box.  It’s hockey, so  I  guess that  counts as doing something not football, but not much.

Still dreary weather, off and on rain, I went for a walk earlier today just to smoke a joint outside, into the wild area between us and the river, and had to go all  the way back, to where the trees start, because otherwise it was too windy to get started.

There was a large rectangle of leveled dirt, big enough for a building and, as it’s that section of ground, that part of  town, where they seem to be putting up one new, modern  building every couple of  years, marching inexorably upriver in what  seems to be a 50 year plan or something, I immediately began speculating, but then I realized that it’s probably destined to be a parking lot, although there’s no road there yet, there’s a putting green right around the corner, and a boat tie-up right there, which had some big disco boat berthed there last time I looked, so a parking lot would make sense.  Oh, well, that’s progress.

What beautiful thing will they build in this spot?
Oh, fuck, it’s a parking lot

Still, the dreary weather.  This is a bizarre thing, it’s been more than a week now of seriously close to winter temperatures, I think if you get out of Prague they’ve actually had some snow.  It’s sort of  like an Indian Summer, (or Grandmother’s Summer, as they say  here), but in reverse.

Again, oh well.  It has to end soon, that is a law of nature, and then all  will be well.