Interesting that AI is the future but it is only able to draw from what we've learned in the past.

After all, it is all about Us

For years now I've hoped Dems would be seen as the party of We where the Rs are the party of Me.

Problem is, we are now seen more as the party of Them.

And not just as a trans issue (they/them), but as in, we are seen as being way more interested in everyone except, to be blunt, straight white males, and not thinking in terms of Us. That's part of why I believe we have to keep any language related to individual subgroups out of our speeches, and talk about Us, not them (gays) and them (African-Americans) and them (Trans) and them (women) and them (Latinos), etc.

To focus (obsess?) over those groups in our language - our speeches, our messaging - sends either obvious or even subliminal messages to the majority of voters that we care more about the Thems than about the Us.

My Annus Horribilus (and no, that doesn't mean My Horrible Anus)

 

I need to write more in this dang thing, if only to unload. This has been...I'm tempted to say one of the worst years of my life, but really, the worst year that I can remember.

- I can't go into detail about this here, but there are two people I love dearly, who are really really hurting emotionally right now. And there is nothing I can do to help.

- Four people who have been a big part of my life, anywhere from 6 years to my entire life time, have died this year: Ed Peabody, cousin Sandy Fitz-Henry, John Rudibaugh, and Nancy Aigeldinger. And another person I adore is fighting for his life.

- I got a random CAT scan and the results showed that I have such high calcium volume, that I am at serious risk of a cardiac event. I took a follow up stress test and passed with flying colors, so the concern is somewhat muted, but regardless, I've changed by diet and lifestyle considerably, and have lost around 15 pounds this year.

- I am so beyond discouraged by our political situation that I have stopped reading any news about it, well, 90% of it anyway.

No wonder, for the first time in my life, I find myself tearing (teering, not taring) up repeatedly during any given day for months now.

Or maybe I'm just upset because the Phillies are on the verge of elimination from the playoffs, the Eagles lost for the first time in almost a year and Penn State had one of their worst losses in the school's history.

But I don't think so. 

My next post, or soon, anyway, will be all the wonderful things in my life...and there are way way more of those than the bad things, too many to mention really.

I'm so disillusioned about so many things in the political sphere these days, left and right, I'm almost at a place of political paralysis. And the murder of Charlie Kirk just takes me even a deeper place of sadness. The real shame of it all is that I think the biggest difference one can make is to donate to our favorite political entities, people and organizations, and I hate that so much. 

I was in the grocery store checkout line today, about 5th in line. There was a man looking to be in his mid-forties in front of me holding 5 or 6 items and in front of him was a woman of the same approximate age with her teenage son. They had a particularly full cart that was ready to be placed on the conveyor belt. 

As she began placing each item on the belt in the usual way, spacing the items out each from the other, her son was instead picking random items out of the cart and flinging them on the belt, almost daring his mom to scold him. As the man in front of me and I watched as much out of boredom as for any other reason, but also waiting to see how or whether the mom would react, the son picked up a bag of potato chips and threw it on the belt, forgetting that he had already opened it, likely when he first sneaked it into the cart.

As if the chips were saying, "Yo Mom, we got this!", they proudly took on the her role of embarrassing the son in front of the rest of us, splaying themselves all over the cart, the floor and the conveyor belt. 

The mom, seeing what happened, sighed, looked at him and went back to placing items on the belt. The son, avoiding her glance, not to mention all of ours, hesitated and then, seeing that the mom was leaving it to him to clean up, began to sheepishly do just that. 

The man in front of me averted his eyes from the chip carnage in my general direction and I said to him, "I guess we were all teenagers once." He smiled and nodded, waited a few seconds and said "Yeah, we sure were."

Once again reinforcing Cheryl's belief that inside every grown male is an 8-year old boy.

Winning, not whining II

 

My updated version of what Democrats need to do to regain power:

Democrats, to make the American Dream affordable again and to bring prosperity back, will:

1.       Provide access to:

a.       quality, affordable health care

b.       free adult vocational education, including:

                                                                              i.       classes on job-related computer skills, from spreadsheets to coding

                                                                           ii.        classes at community colleges 

                                                                         iii.        hands-on job-training in the fields of plumbing, electrical, mechanical, HVAC, etc.

2.       Give substantial incentives to corporations of any size to provide free onsite childcare

3.       Reject corporate welfare, subsidies and tax credits for huge conglomerates and corporate monopolies that have driven out small businesses

4.       Incentivize corporations to share their profits with their workers

5.       Remove limits on contributions to Social Security accounts so high earners and their employers pay their fair share

6.       Continue to push back against those who block rational, legal immigration reform

7.       Put American citizens’ needs ahead of anyone entering our country illegally

8.       Limit the power of investment houses to buy up houses and hold them from the market in order to force an increase in the price of housing

9.       Pass laws requiring term limits for all federal and state level politicians

10   Institute age-limits for Supreme Court justices

11   Nominate justices who will overturn Citizens United reducing the role of money from billionaires and corporations in politics

12   Give military priority to fighting wars that impact on our own national security, while making sure all spending on our national defense is spent efficiently

13   Reduce unnecessary overseas military installations and use the money to strengthen our factory towns

14   Make sure our veterans have access to free mental healthcare for life

15   Commit to a full audit of the nation’s drinking water systems and make repairs a top priority, giving everyone access to clean water

16   Take a stand against hate speech toward people who have different political opinions from ours, no matter how much we disagree. Our fellow American citizens are not the enemy within.

17   Do everything we can to keep the government out of your life…unless you actually need or want its help. If the private sector can do it more efficiently for less cost, the government shouldn’t be doing it at all.

18   Give special attention to supporting small businesses, which create more jobs than all the Fortune 500 companies combined. This includes removing burdensome regulations and unnecessary government-imposed mandates.

19   Eliminate gerrymandering by removing politicians from the redistricting process

 

And 20th, never forget to remind people how wonderful they are. The best of what makes America great isn’t based on how we vote. It’s what we do every day regardless of our party affiliation: getting our kids off to school, shopping, making dinner, going to religious services, volunteering at the food bank, cutting the grass for a sick friend or neighbor regardless of what their voter registration card says, caring for our elderly parents, and yes, maybe even running for public office.  

As James Brown said, “People feel you before they hear you.” I have plenty of people in my life whom I love and respect, who are thoughtful, loving, supportive people…who vote straight Republican, yes, even including for Donald Trump. We need to validate, and try to understand, their feelings and beliefs, just as we’d ask that they do the same for us. 

Reliving Live Aid

 

"Reliving Live Aid" 

Not the best pic, and the ticket isn't in great shape, but...40 years ago yesterday. Quite a day. Only disappointment was that despite rampant rumors of Bruce sightings backstage, he never appeared.

Here's the JFK Live Aid performer list:

9 am: Joan Baez; The Hooters; The Four Tops; Billy Ocean.

10 am: Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne; Run-DMC; Rick Springfield; REO Speedwagon.

11 am: Crosby, Stills, Nash; Judas Priest.

12 pm: Bryan Adams; The Beach Boys.

1 pm: George Thorogood; Queens Performance from London.

2 pm: Music video featuring David Bowie and Mick Jagger; Simple Minds; The Pretenders.

3 pm: Santana with Pat Metheny; Ashford and Simpson with Teddy Pendergrass.

4:30 pm: Madonna; Rod Stewart. 5 pm: Tom Petty; Kenny Loggins; The Cars.

6 pm: Neil Young; Power Station. 7 pm: Thompson Twins; Eric Clapton.

8 pm: Phil Collins with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page; Duran Duran.

9 pm: Patti LaBelle; Daryll Hall and John Oates with Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin.

10 pm: Mick Jagger; Jagger with Tina Turner; Bob Dylan.

Jack Nicholson hosted. The opening artist Joan Baez announced to the crowd: "This is your Woodstock, and it's long overdue," before leading the crowd in singing "Amazing Grace". Led Zeppelin performed for the first time since the death of their drummer John Bonham in 1980. There were occasional (weak) attempts at comedy between acts by people like Chevy Chase and Joe Piscopo to fill time.

It was an incredibly hot day with little or no water or food but certainly all worth it. 

I went with a young woman named Anne Clark. Well, that's her name now. She was the girlfriend of my friend (via Dennis) Mark who looked at me askance when I told the gang I had an extra ticket and Anne said she'd go with me. She's one of the most likeable people I've ever met. I visited Mark and Anne 10 or so years ago when I was in Denver for a conference and it was so great to see them. I think Anne might have packed sandwiches for us. I got there quite early and stayed until it was over.