Sizing Up All Three Candidates

Polls have indicated that the majority of Americans agree with the agenda of Bernie Sanders in terms of lowering College education costs and furthering the cause of civil rights as well as civil liberties, and they are war weary and they don’t trust Wall Street and they prefer single payer health care.   But this fill in guy for Shawn Hannity is a right wing whacko who branded the democratic party as a whole as extremist.   He then said something I could agree with.  He said “What’s wrong with asking questions of your liberal friends to force them to think”?  Well it turns out he only had one question and that was “Do you believe in the rule of law?”   Of course we do.  Then he weakens his argument in saying “Of course democrats are selective about which laws they obey”.   He then brought up two examples.  One was the local prosecutor of District of Columbia on whether concealed weapons permits can be handed out.  It seems there is some court ruling which said “You aren’t handing out enough permits”.  He then brought up Kim Davis.  Here you have a similar case where there is a court ruling.  In this case it’s that homosexual marriages are legal.  I may not agree with that ruling but it’s the law and Kim Davis was obligated to carry out that law and not be a law unto herself.  So I’m not sure what point he was trying to make.  He attacked the Mc Donald’s minimum wage floor of fifteen dollars an hour in Seattle saying people are being fired right and left up there.  I haven’t heard about that in the news.  He then brought up the example of the lemonade stand and you wouldn’t hire someone to sell the lemonade for fifteen dollars an hour.  My response is that it depends what you sell the lemonade for.  If you want to buy a lemonade at a Mc Donalds it will cost you a heck of a lot more than 25 cents a glass.  And if you sell a glass a minute for an hour straight you’ve made fifteen dollars.  Again I’m not sure what his point is.  I hope he’s not trying to insinuate that Mc Donald’s is not making a profit on the food they sell or that somehow hiring more people to sell that food will cause them to go broke.  How much money do you suppose the average cashier at Mc Donald’s pulls in in an hour anyhow?   But I have some questions of my own if we’re going to talk about questions.  Is war all other things being equal- - a good or a bad thing?  Should wars try to be avoided if at all possible?  Should we lie to get ourselves into a war.  If there are war crimes being committed are the American people entitled to know about them.   Is the Ku Klux Klan an organization you’d like to identify with?  Should a presidential candidate identify with that group.  Does it make a presidential candidate look good to cheer for a major housing recession so he can make money?  Should a candidate’s speeches made to Wall Street be made public knowledge to “dispel any doubts”?   Should someone run for President who might soon be under indictment.  All things being equal- -shouldn’t a political party pick the strongest candidate against an opponent rather than the weakest one.  Isn’t global warming and climate change things we should be concerned about.  Shouldn’t trade deals consider the interest of the workers and the consumer and the environment?  Shouldn’t a candidate be his own man and not let party officials dictate what he’ll say in the campaign?   Does it weaken a candidate’s case while preaching “family values” to have been married three times?  Do you think it’s a good idea to have someone as President who has absolutely no prior experience?   I’m sure there are a lot more questions to be asked.  Do you think Christianity is a fact based religion or a “Faith based” religion not based on fact?  Do you feel your intelligence is being insulted by the lame brain rationalizations police gives for the deaths of suspects?   Do you favor internet neutrality?  Do you want to adopt a new way of calculating congressional districts that is patently unconstitutional even if it favors the republicans?  Do you feel that government figures on inflation and unemployment are entirely honest?   It’s funny how I am able to come up with all these questions off the top of my head and yet the guy on the radio could only think of one he wants to ask a liberal- - and he bollixed that one all up.   Hillary takes money for “down ballot races” for Senators, Governors, Congressmen, Assemblymen and the like and yet only one percent of that money reaches these targets.  Don’t you have more than a few questions about Hillary’s honesty when it comes with money in general, because I sure do.

Henry Kissinger and Dick Chaney have endorsed Hillary.  Hillary gets lots of donations from Republicans.  More Republicans are rumored to be for Hillary.  Here are a few reminders of who the “progressive” candidate of the “Democratic” Party is: Nobody Beats This Record

§  She says President Obama was wrong not to launch missile strikes on Syria in 2013.

§  She pushed hard for the overthrow of Qadaffi in 2011.

§  She supported the coup government in Honduras in 2009.

§  She has backed escalation and prolongation of war in Afghanistan.

§  She voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

§  She skillfully promoted the White House justification for the war on Iraq.

§  She does not hesitate to back the use of drones for targeted killing.

§  She has consistently backed the military initiatives of Israel.

§  She was not ashamed to laugh at the killing of Qadaffi.

§  She has not hesitated to warn that she could obliterate Iran.

§  She is not afraid to antagonize Russia.

§  She helped facilitate a military coup in Ukraine.

§  She has the financial support of the arms makers and many of their foreign customers.

§  She waived restrictions at the State Department on selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar, all states wise enough to donate to the Clinton Foundation.

§  She supported President Bill Clinton’s wars and the power of the president to make war without Congress.

§  She has advocated for arming fighters in Syria.

§  She supported a surge in Iraq even before President Bush did.

WHAT 'LOOKING FORWARD" REALLY MEANS Since before he entered the White House, Barack Obama has proposed handling past crimes by powerful people and entities through a policy called “looking forward” — in other words, by ignoring them. While President Obama has targeted whistleblowers with retribution and more prosecutions than his predecessors, deported more immigrants, and kept the lights on in Guantanamo, anyone responsible for war or assassination or torture or lawless imprisonment or most major Wall Street scams (or sharing military secrets with one’s mistress) has been given a total pass. Why shouldn’t Harry Truman receive the same privilege?

GOOD WORK, IF YOU CAN GET IT Act as if the work of the presidency is a hardship while enjoying all the perks: The race for the White House is an expensive, grueling horse race: candidates must have at a minimum $200 or $300 million or more just to get to the starting line. The total cost for this year’s election is estimated to exceed $5 billion and could go as high as $10 billion. However, for the winner, life in the White House is an endless series of star-studded dinner parties, lavish vacations and perks the likes of which the average American will never enjoy. The grand prize winner will rake in a $400,000 annual salary (not including $100,000 a year for travel expenses, $19,000 for entertaining, $50,000 for “general” expenses and last but not least,$1,000,000 for “unanticipated” expenses), live rent-free in a deluxe, 6-storey, 55,000 square foot mansion that comes complete with its own movie theater and bowling alley, round-the-clock staff, florists, valets and butlers. Upon leaving the White House, presidents are gifted with hefty pensions, paid staff and office space, travel allowances and lifetime medical care. Ex-presidents can also expand upon their largesse by writing books and giving speeches (Bill Clinton was given a $15 million advance for his memoirand routinely makes upwards of $100,000 per speech).

 I turned on the Stephanie Miller show but got bored really fast.  I’m burnt out on politics but even more than that I’m sick of the chronic pro Hillary stance of everyone on the Stephanie show.  It’s not that they are actually saying what a positive agenda Hillary has or how wonder America will be with her. Despite the amount of Bernie bashing they do on that show it’s not as if they are pointing out where Hillary is a better candidate than Bernie, because they can’t do that.  In any head to head comparison between Bernie and Hillary, Bernie wins hands down.  In terms of cigarettes I’ve gotten a whole one from Phyllis Green and one from Ron.  We had corn flakes for breakfast followed by two pancakes and bacon.  Paul gave me another glass of orange juice and both of his pancakes.  The black coffee was only about a half a cup and there were certainly no extras these days.  I had Stephanie on a bit after breakfast but quickly turned it on “Ring of Fire” from May 21^st.   I watched twenty minutes before breakfast and the remaining ten after breakfast.  Then I watched the entire May twentieth show after breakfast.  Bill’s physical therapist was here and he’s been using some vibrator gadget on Bill.  I didn’t ask Bill whether today’s session helped him.  One thing that gets a little old are the endless repeats we get both from Hartman and Stephanie Miller.

Mark Semone was on instead of Hannity.  The news of the day is that there was an official State Department report saying Hillary is guilty in the E mail case.  So now it’s rumored that they’re going to pick Joe Biden for President when Hillary is indicted.  They have already decided to get rid of Debby Wasserman Shultz- - as part of a sacrificial lamb elimination.  I think this is an excellant idea and long overdue.  She's held that office for five years since 2011 and is responsible for the disasterous showing at the ballot box in November of 2014.  The truth is that if there is to be a progressive "revolution" it has not yet started.  This November will be a test as to whether it has.  At three I tuned in Norman Goldman.  Again I did more slumbering.  We had a chicken drumstick for dinner but there was no curry sauce or seasonings as advertized.  We had a green salad with Italian dressing and a half baked potato.  We had yogurt for dessert.

This is Wednesday May 25, 2016.  When I got up this morning I was thinking how dominated my writings have become with politics.  This wasn’t true in the spring of 1996 for instance.  I was all wrapped up in those suicide scenarios where each time I’d die or meet my demise I’d “come to” in a different place.  Then in 2000 my writings were dominated by the therapy sessions with Eileen at the mental health center.  In 2004 my writings were very dull in the spring and then in July we saw a revival of all the fantasy aspects of my writings and not politics.  That brings us to 2008.  I’ve looked at 2008 and many of the references to Obama are very brief.  But clearly the writings of the time show a clear distrust of Obama and that Hillary was being short changed by the party.  Even at that date I wasn’t ceased by politics to the extent I am now.  Only in 2012 have I been as obsessed with politics as I am now.  Stephanie had Thom Hartman on her show yesterday.  This morning I smoked the cigarette I saved from last night when Bill gave me a cigarette as I was watching “The Flash”.  I was too sleepy to go out for a smoke.  I got my medication from Tom.  I slept well but still woke tired.  They’re playing an old Donald Trump video of the “real estate bubble” thing in 2008 where Donald Trump doesn’t believe a Real Estate crash would happen but if it did he’d be good for someone like him who would swoop in and buy low.  The trouble is that remark won’t play too well on main street