Sunny is in love!

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How can I tell him his new love has a heart of stone?

Sam

The always unpredictable Al Gore has been quietly mentioned. The man who for a long time has warned us about the perils of climate change, panned the Keystone pipeline, wrote the legislation creating the Internet for we the people, who openly assertively states corporations are not people too - that's my kind of Presidential choice. Elizabeth Warren would make a great Vice Presidential choice to run with Gore. So would O'Malley.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16080513-could-al-gore-re-emerge-as-a-presidential-candidate-in-2016

"Besides, Gore is one of those rare public figures who could compete without needing to throw a lot of money into the fight. He could also afford to take an outside-the-box approach to fundraising. In October, Gore – looking far more presidential and statesmanlike than he did in his younger days – told Bloomberg that “corporations are not persons, money is not speech, (and) big anonymous contributors should not call the shots,” in US politics.

Gore may be wealthy, but he also has populist credentials and the experience that would allow him to, at the very least, be taken seriously as a presidential contender. Gore could make a simple pitch for something like 10 million people to donate $20 apiece, and $200 million ought to be more than enough to give him a fighting chance at the nomination. Mitt Romney spent a little less than $80 million in winning the 2012 GOP nomination, CNN reported in April 2012.

Just as Gore surprised the political world in late 2002 by stating he wouldn’t seek the Democratic nomination in 2004, it would be a welcome surprise to hear him say in early 2014 that he’s not ruling out another run for the White House in 2016."

I read a couple of months ago he had quietly been approached and asked to run. And yes, it would be a welcome surprise should he choose to do so.

Sam

I would like to share something with the hope it be helpful. It concerns the importance of allowing oneself to properly grieve.

When my father passed, I was 28. I simply could not face it. I had lost my mom when I was six so he was all-important to me. He died suddenly from a heart attack at 50. A sudden passing of a loved one leaves no time to emotionally prepare so it often is even more difficult to accept. I could not look at any pictures of my father for ten years. I was in denial.

But after some time, I found myself angry at him for leaving. It would be a lengthy reason to explain why, so I will just leave it at that. After some time, I felt ashamed for that anger as if I were feeling sorry for myself for having lost my father instead of feeling sorry for him for having passed so young.

But I was not myself for two years. The depression was deep.

I finally snapped out of it one day when I felt my daughter pulling on my skirt. She was two. I looked down and thought about how much I had neglected her and my husband in my grief over losing my father. I made a strong effort to accept my father's passing to return to my former self so I could be the loving mother and wife I had once been.

Some time later, I found out there were self-help books on the process of grieving. Some authors think there are seven; some think there are five. I purchased one and read it. To my utter amazement, that book described all of the stages I had passed through. Even the anger one was discussed. I so regretted not knowing so many books on this subject existed; I would have read one much sooner and learned so much about the process when I needed to know it.

The Five Stages of Grief (as outlined by Dr. Kubler-Ross):

Denial
Anger
Bargaining*
Depression
Acceptance

*Dr. Kubler-Ross initially outlined these steps to help patients who were facing death. She later expanded her work to simply help everyone grieving, including those who had lost very close loved ones. The Bargaining stage usually impacts individuals with a terminal illness. I did not experience that phase.

Once I realized the process of grieving is a very normal reaction to loss and all of the feelings I had experienced were natural, I knew if only I had allowed myself to grieve instead of holding back, I could have learned to cope much quicker than what I did. Now when I experience a loss, I do not hold back my grief. I let it all emerge and I think that has been very instrumental in helping me to heal.

The reason I am writing you this post is to simply let you know you are so right in saying grieving is not a weakness. It is what we do to face our tragedies and start the healing process therefrom. We never stop missing those we loved and lost, but we do learn to live with it and return to the person we once were who experienced the wholeness of life, even contentment and happiness.

Remember each day to always look around and take notice of all we love that we still have.

Happy Valentine's Day, and thank you for all your wonderful work on our site.

Sam

He himself invited this when he asked us, regarding issues important to us, to "make him do it." Those where his exact words.

He also said in Chicago in 2008 acknowledging his win to the huge crowd that had gathered there, words to the effect that we, the people who elected him, would not like everything he did, but he had gotten so much more from us than we would get from him. I think some people might not have paid close attention to this.

But I voted for President Obama twice, and I do not regret it. I think overall he has done a remarkable job under extremely adverse conditions. Some things he has accomplished I think are remarkable. Some things he is considering and has done I believe are appalling. I have no problem expressing my dissatisfaction, or when appropriate outrage, when I come face to face when one of these things.

Yet I still as I said above do not regret my vote. When my blood starts to boil, for instance, when I did a lot of research on the Chained CPI and realized over time what impact that would have on seniors, instead of continuing to just be outraged, I sent my info to Bernie Sanders and asked him to oppose this. So the answer is, I believe, when a politician one has supported steps out to make an objectionable move, become actively involved and express your opposition.

Also keep in mind, if we had not elected Barack Obama president, Mitt Romney would be sitting in the Oval Office, and we would be in a great deal more pain today than we are with the President.

Welcome to DU.

Sam

he was unable to make it thru the second night. Walked off I think during the second or third act, leaving the cast to improvise for the rest of the show. Improvise as in they lost a main character and had to ad lib....

There is a video at the link above which I encourage you to access. I believe you will truly enjoy watching Cruz perform, and I do not believe you see in any difference in his performance on stage and off.

Perhaps I should put this in a separate thread for all to enjoy??? Or just wait for a strategic moment to do so?

Sam

Ted Cruz takes his Shakespeare* too seriously. That is just another way of saying Cruz is not stupid. He is just a really, really poor actor. Someone should tell him to get off the stage.

BUT WAIT A MINUTE

After I posted this, I did a quick search and found out he does have acting experience. Take a look at this quote:

"Senator Ted Cruz is known for his acts of political theater, but the drama we’ve come to expect from him on the Senate floor may trace its origins from his days at Harvard Law School. A new profile of Cruz by Matt Viser of the Boston Globe revealed that the senator played a leading role in the drama society’s production of “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, back in 1992.

The play, which depicts the demagoguery of the Salem Witch Trials, was written as a critique of Senator Joe McCarthy’s red-baiting tactics of the 1950’s. The character Cruz played, the self-aggrandizing Reverend Samuel Parris, may be fitting for a senator criticized for his own demagoguery."

http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/life-imitates-art-cruz-the-crucible

I think he deserves a special award -- something like Worst Actor in the Political Arena.

Sam

*As You Like It.