calimary
calimary's JournalAnd thank goodness for that! Love Garrison Keillor, and love you babylonsister for posting this!
Reminds me of that comment from Mr. Rogers - regarding the advice to go find the helpers in times of trouble.
Whoa! THIS is TRIPPY!!!!
I'm loving it, too!
The Scale of the Universe
http://htwins.net/scale2/
THANK YOU for posting! Definitely one to bookmark!
Man, what an experience! Thank you for your service, and your sacrifice!
I've never served in the military, myself, but it always seemed to me that the very same people who saber-rattle and can't wait to charge the light brigade have never seen any action like that, never lived through it - that is, if they're among the lucky ones, never lost anything or anyone or any body part to it. Real easy to roar for war when you're sitting in that big comfy chair at home, on the other side of the planet from the war zone, in front of your flat screen TV in the nice air conditioning and quiet suburban streets, with all the beer or soda and snacks you want.
Reminds me of "All Quiet on the Western Front." Strong, strapping young men all rarin' to go and see combat, only to find themselves plunged into the most horrifying, blood-soaked, pain-filled nightmare they ever thought they could imagine.
You know, I wanted to say more about this SUPERB comment of yours, ChisolmTrailDem.
Just SUPERB.
I'd recommend it on its own if I could! Powerful and eloquent and courageous and forcefully on point.
This is a three-paragraph tutorial in how to fight back. It's a road map. It's a light shining on the path, making it easier to see!
THANK YOU, ChisolmTrailDem! Your ideas are FIRST-RATE, and well worth duplication!
What we have to do, as I just heard Melissa Harris Perry articulate on MSNBC - is that WE THE PEOPLE have to speak louder and exert more pressure on these reps, regardless of their party affiliation or regional loyalty, than the gun lobby does. Look how out-shouting worked for the teabaggers. Except they brought a lot of bad ideas and bad attitudes into power positions, and it's been to the overall detriment of the whole country, whether the rep is from Pensacola Florida or Petaluma California. And there was no counter-punch. These guys had the podium, the floor, the pulpit, all the microphones in almost all the radio stations and a whole damn 24-hour cable network to spew and rant and stomp their little feet. Unchallenged, undisputed, no response. Nobody home on the other side (OUR side), because everybody was cowering in the basement, afraid to speak up. Afraid. Of what, after all? What could they do to us? Call us unpatriotic? Well, how's about we throw that BACK AT THEM? And HARD!!!
And it seems to me we should take full advantage of this "republi-CONS in disarray" meme that's all over the media these days. GOOD! I've often posted about the "destabilize the enemy" strategy. The whole business of - keep jabbing, keep 'em busy, keep coming at them - like any number of little dinosaurs in the "Jurassic Park" movies. Just keep coming back. Stay on 'em. Keep 'em looking over their shoulders. Keep 'em busy. Keep 'em worried. Like those relentless flies in your face at the picnic or the beach, that just never seem to give up. If they build a levee, we need to just keep picking at it and boring little holes in it and crumbling it around the edges wherever we find a weak spot. But SHEESH - these days, they're doing all the heavy lifting for us! They're doing an outstanding job of keeping themselves destabilized!
We should exploit this opportunity to help them bring themselves to their knees. We've got the momentum on SO MANY issues! Particularly since they don't know how to fight this kind of onslaught. They're used to us being lazy and sleeping through the last 30 - 35 years or so and not putting up much of a fight. And when that happens to a fighter, the fighter gets flabby and out of condition. So now that we're fighting, and fighting back, and roaring our displeasure and OUR demands, doing so vocally, and in numbers that can't be ignored, they're at a loss. They don't know how to fight THIS.
One more important thing to remember: THEY are the proven numerical minority, anyway. And I've gotta tell ya - I'm damned tired of being pushed around by the minority. THEY'RE the ones who are supposed to go to the back of the room and sit down and shut up and stop interfering with Majority Rule and declaring mandates that they actually do NOT have.
And - this is NOT a center-right country. Despite all their assertions. If one has any doubt, one needs only to study the results of the last election, only last November. THAT cold, hard fact is on our side, too!
Now we need to make good use of that while this golden opportunity is fresh and in hand. Get active! DO some of these things! Make yourself and your wants and preferences HEARD! Call 'em up, write that letter to the editor, call that radio station, post that opinion, weigh in!
I even called one SUPPOSEDLY of our own today. Heidi Heitkamp.
I got one of her staffers in her DC Senate office. next week I'm gonna call her regional office.
I identified myself as a Californian. I said, straight off, that I'm not a constituent, BUT I GAVE MONEY TO HER CAMPAIGN LAST FALL. I did without several tanks of gas in order to send that money in so she could get to the Senate. I may not be a constituent per se, but I HELPED HER GET THERE. And I said I wanted to add my voice to all those who were utterly dismayed by her extremist comments on TV last Sunday, that President Obama's moves to tighten gun laws were absolute non-starters. I said - I HELPED SEND HER TO THE SENATE, AND I EXPECT SOMETHING IN RETURN FOR THAT. And I said I expect her to figure out a way to help make those reforms HAPPEN. NOT badmouth them from the get-go and try to poke holes in them and tell us all why they can't possible be allowed to go through.
FUCK THAT SHIT.
I told her staffer that I won't be contributing EVER AGAIN if she keeps up crap like that.
I gave to a whole bunch of candidates last November, and I bought myself several new and returning Senators and Congresspeople. As such, I figure Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Duckworth, Tammy Baldwin, Patrick Murphy, and others - work for ME, too - every bit as much as Dianne Feinstein and Henry Waxman do. And because I donated, even the paltry amounts I could come up with, their asses are MINE, too. I have skin in this game, even if only a teensy bit. And I don't care if they're not all Californians. They're damn well gonna hear from me if they defy my will. Or else I'm done helping them. They may love my money (such as it was of course - I'm certainly NO shel adelson!), but my money isn't loving some of them at the moment.
These assholes NEED TO KNOW. THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM US. They're certainly hearing an ear-ful from the lobbyists and the NRA and the banksters and the teabaggers. WHY should they NOT hear anything from US?????? We have to counter-balance all that dreck If the schmucks are all they hear from, that's the only thing they'll believe is worth heeding. If YOU don't speak up, then to them - you do not even exist. And your views certainly don't matter. Speaking up and yapping at their heels means you DO matter and they can't pretend you don't exist, and they can't just cavalierly brush off your concerns and your agenda and your pet issues.
I MEAN IT!!! It is the political truth of truths: If they think you don't care, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!!!
Is that the jackass with the tattoos looking into his little camera and making murderous threats?
YET ANOTHER example of unhinged delusional assholes with anger issues - who have NO BUSINESS anywhere NEAR guns of any kind!
Well, then you need to be a dog on a pants leg with him.
Call his office - locally/regionally if it's less expensive. Keep reminding him that it's not just teabaggers and gun nuts he represents. There's YOU, TOO, and LOTS more like you, too. And whether he likes it or not, he's got to represent YOU as well. It's up to you and other constituents of his - to let him know he does NOT serve in some sort of CONS-only vacuum. And that your side is speaking louder and louder and louder and getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and he better watch his ass and listen to YOU, TOO, if he wants to keep his job.
If he doesn't hear from you, he'll figure you don't exist - and worse, don't matter.
Here is the Unofficial Law of the Washington Jungle:
If they think you don't care, THEY WON'T, EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!
"She will be heard . . ." More like, at long last, WE will be heard.
She may be the first Senator outside of Barbara Boxer who GENUINELY works for the public interest FIRST, not the corporate interest first.
I think they're all so stunned that somebody finally gets in their face about what they've been pulling on an unsuspecting public - that it threw them completely off their guard and off their game. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHERE WE WANT THEM. Off-balance and not sure what to do or how to respond to this new political climate they never had to face before.
It's the same thing with jumping on the gun restrictions ASAP, way BEFORE the opposition can pull itself off the floor (onto which they were just abruptly knocked down). They have NO template for this. They have NO experience with this. With a public interest that rears up IMMEDIATELY and roars, and actually bites back. They're used to us all being gullible, acquiescent, disengaged, not paying attention, too busy with other stuff to get involved. That's how they've been able to snow us under. Who was speaking out - with any clout? Or any teeth? Well, NOBODY. Until NOW.
There's a new sheriff in town, and all I can say is "THANK YOU GOD!!!!!"
I LOVE Joe Biden. He's a true Everyman. Not afraid just to be himself.
No wonder people relate to him!
I think he'd make a terrific president! HOWEVER, my heart kinda belongs to Hillary Clinton, so I'd have quite a dilemma on my hands if they both run.
But one thing's certain: MAN-OH-MAN do we have bench strength!!! We have an embarrassment of riches in future presidential hopefuls. Add in Andrew Cuomo and a few others, and it's gonna be harder than hell to choose between them! Never saw so many on the good-guy team before! Kinda reminds me of the whole Bobby Kennedy/Gene McCarthy/Hubert Humphrey dilemma once-upon-a-time. The first two were the best. I kinda think RFK might have gone all the way if he hadn't been assassinated. 
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