(#4716) A hard year but a good year!

      I see so many memes and people online talking about how horrible 2021 was but to me 2020 was so much worse. The republicans still controlled the senate and white house and were poised to keep them. Instead our blue wave tsunami overwhelmed them and our democrats gained control of the white house and senate while keeping the house. Major victory there to keep our democracy intact for the moment. Not only that a huge Covid relief package was signed into law by President Biden as well as a huge hard infrastructure law. We democrats kept the house as well albeit the senate and the house are held by very slim margins. Yet we do control them and may still get some more legislation passed that helps the US American people and protects our democracy.
     We would have had Covid under control by now if the republican party had been honest partners in defeating it but they were absolutely not honest partners. The republicans put partisan politics above national security and safety and health concerns. So we are ending the year with infections from a previously warned variant that would happen if we didn't reach a herd immunity when we had the chance earlier this year. So once again it is the republican party that is prolonging our national health danger as well as the interconnected economic ill health. We cannot get our economy back to full strength when we are still infecting each other for no other purpose than to play republican politics over it.
     This year has been hard on so many but the idea that it wouldn't have been worse if republicans had won the election in 2020 is absurd. Not only would we be still infecting each other at a higher rate but the deaths would be well above a million folks by now with no end in sight. Our economy would still be losing steam and making us vulnerable to foreign influences that wouldn't already be targeting us by now. The whole idea that 2021 was a bad year without recognizing the good is ludicrous. Thankfully we democrats rode in and saved the day but the future is still up for grabs. Will 2022 be better under democratic control? Yes, To keep it that way we need to vote in numbers like we did in 2020 and make sure the manchinema is not in position from us ending the filibuster in the senate.

(#4715) Stop gerrynmandering and protect voting rights!

      This is a demand from me not a request. We have elected representatives who are supposed to do the will of the people not deny the will of the people. I don't care how republicans and manchinema try to square the circle, they are not doing the will of the people. They are elected to federal positions, not state ones, so their claim to only answer to their home state constituents fails on two accounts. First is that again, they are responsible for all Americans as is stated in their oaths of office. Second, and this is the most telling that they are not being truthful is that they are being told by a majority of their home state voters to support not only voting rights protections but the Build Back Better agenda and yet they refuse to heed that call.
     So 50 republican senators and 2 democratic senators are defying their oaths and instead are protecting special interests and their own. The 50 republicans are by far the worst of the 52 because they don't want to give Biden a "win" nor do they want to help the working middle poor class. To me they are despicable human beings and should be jettisoned from public office as early as possible. Consider the voting rights protections bills. All they do is allow for free and fair elections everywhere while also drawing congressional maps that represent communities not political advantages. the nefarious nature of gerrymandering is a ruse to allow the minority to rule the majority. Much like the filibuster in the senate.
     When we stop political gerrymandering we actually allow voters to choose their representatives and not the other way around. when we have free and fair access to the ballot box we are practicing democracy in order to give the people the voice in how our government proceeds into the future. The lack of democratic ideals that the 50 republican senators currently display plus the lack of democratic ideals the 2 democratic senators are preventing signals to the rest of us that the senate is broken. We need to reimage our senate to more accurately represent our society that goes beyond 2 senators per state regardless of the states population. When South Dakota, which has less than 900,000 citizens, and California which has nearly 40 million citizens, yet both only have 2 senators is another reason we need to overhaul our Congress in ways that define equality and equity in representation.

(#4714) No empathy for the unvaccinated

      There are few things that people do that in life that riles me up. First because it doesn't just effect them. If it was just the person's choice and it had nothing to do with anyone else then fine and good. but not with this virus. You cannot choose to be selfish about the choice to vaccinate or not because it is more than just your choice. You affect those around you in ways that are gravely detrimental. So those who choose to be unvaccinated and/or lie about it are a scourge and should be dealt with in some harsh fashion. Either they should all contract the Covid and suffer the outcome of their infection or there should be some legal penalty charge that includes a negligence of duty to our society.
     The idea that personal freedom extends to protecting a virus over human life just does not make any logical sense. Therefore it should not be allowed to happen without some harsh penalty. A lot of this non compliance with health directives can be traced back to political posturing by the republican party. Starting with the inept trump, initially spewing his lies about Covid spread and its deathly nature to now when most of the republican party continues to downplay inoculations and protective policies like gear and distancing. What really galls me as more than an aside here is that the republican party thinks that they are going to win a majority in the next election.
     How any insurrectionist, democracy destroying, virus flaunting, cabal of republican dimwits think that they are due to win because of previous political historical precedence is mind boggling. They think they can win no matter what horrible acts or beliefs they hold in the bright light of day. Like they are immune to being seen as unworthy even though they are absolutely unworthy. Like the cognitive dissonance, (illogical thinking), that makes them who they are today is invisible to those who they think will vote for them. Well I have a clue for them, they are not going to get away with destroying our democracy while they ask us to help them to do it. What will happen in the next election is a trouncing they will get and the utter disbelief they will have as they once again cry foul over non existent voter fraud.

(#4713) How to deal with Covid

     What we have been doing so far has not been effective in reaching herd immunity nor in convincing the unvaccinated that the science is correct. There are too many who are devoid of logical critical thinking skills when it comes to government data. They are convinced that the government is trying to infect them or chip them or some other nefarious reason that is unnecessary. So hoping that they will do their duty to our society and inoculate themselves to protect themselves and the rest of us is not working. They need another scenario to get them on board. So my point here is that what we have been doing through voluntary actions is not working so another method must be deployed.
     There is always the President who can declare a national emergency and implement Martial law. By forcing all citizens to accept the vaccinations we could get many who are not vaccinated to comply. However there will be a subset of people who will become so enraged at being forced to vaccinate through Martial law that they would take up arms and resist. This scenario to me is a last gasp attempt to save our society so should not be considered yet. The loss of life and civil unrest that would follow would be chaotic and could leave us vulnerable to foreign actors with bad intent.
     This next idea is much more in line with our society and its lust for capitalism. If we incentivize getting vaccinated and boosted say with $1000 per individual the result may well be that we get to herd immunity somewhere at about 80% or more. While the bill for such an endeavor may well exceed 250 billion dollars the money spent may well be the cheapest option given how we are losing capital in our current scenario of hoping for a voluntary duty to vaccinate; and the price for instituting Martial law may well be much higher that 250 billion along with unnecessary bloodshed from the angry anti vaccination crowd. We must do something and to me paying everyone to save our society seems like the most likely way to do it.

(#4712) Seeing the bigger picture

      As is painfully obvious, too many of we United States of America citizens are perpetually stuck with the view of our own circumstances and situations. That is the micro view. What I am trying to get us to do at the same time is to have a macro view of our existence. The bigger picture by another phrase. Most all of us are in the vast majority of Americans, the working middle poor class. This is not a sleight nor putdown, it is just who we are and how we survive in this current unequal capitalistic society. We are basically the bottom rung but nonetheless the most important and influential rung is we so choose.
     But we have to choose to be the most important and influential rung in our society. We have the power if we all would just find a way to recognize it. We are not beholden to the wealthy for handouts. We are not at their beck and call to serve their purposes. Yet because they have the power to hire and fire, we in this most dependent capitalistic society are forced to do things we would not otherwise do. So how do we turn this around so that we are not forced to do things because of our fear of being fired or not hired. We start by not electing the wealthy and their subordinates to elected office. Instead we elect candidates that are for the American working middle poor class so that they can pass legislation that not only protects us in the workforce but enhances our lives through modern efficient policies.
     As it stands now there are no republican representatives nor senators who are behind the working middle poor class voter. Every republican in both houses of Congress have failed to tally even one vote to protect voting rights. No republican in Congress has said they will vote for the Build Back Better agenda that would so revolutionize for the better the lives of the working middle poor class. As well give our working middle poor class a leg up from the poverty and despair that we are currently mired in. No republican in Congress has ought to raise the federal minimum wage from the paltry $7.25 an hour. No republican has sought to make sure women are equal to men in pay in the workforce. Worst of all is that half or more of the republican party supported a coup against our United States Constitution.

(#4711) manchin isn't a leader he is a taker

      It is painfully obvious that manchin is not a leader. Instead he is one of those guys who likes to do well for himself. If he truly cared about his constituents he would be reasonable in helping them more so than himself. He would also consider that he is only 1 among 50 democratic caucusing senators who should be representing the whole nation. So it isn't just his West Virginia state citizens he should be helping but the whole of the United States of America citizenry. I often hear him say that his West Virginia citizens are the ones he listens to, which is a dubious claim, but that is selling short the other 49 states and several territories of their voices. He took an oath, "...I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same...".
     He seems to have forgotten that he is a United States Senator, not just a West Virginia Senator. Since a vast majority of our national population supports the Build Back Better bill's agenda as well as voting rights protections it does make you wonder why he denies the human infrastructure bill and protects a racist archaic senate rule that keeps us from having free and fair elections. I know he doesn't see it that way but my question is why doesn't he? The reality is that we working middle poor class Americans have been under the thumb of the wealthy for far too long and he is all for us staying there when it doesn't have to be.
     Joe Biden was elected our president on the promises he made to improve our society and bring equity and equality more in line with a modern democracy. manchin was not elected our president yet he wants to dictate the agenda as if he were. His outsized ego is destroying what is left of our chance to make historic changes for the better to our society. Time is running out and he seems well set on ignoring the will of the people as well the will of his president. manchin is not an example of a leader. He is instead an example of what becomes of a man when he hasn't the highest duty nor respect for the democracy he exists within. His duty and respect is to something lesser than honor and principle which makes our future look very dim.

(#4710) Just another day

      I know kids would say otherwise and so would many adults who like these types of things but for me I wish all days could be like this where we don't have to create a special day to treat each other better than all the other days. I am no bah humbug type but for myself I prefer to be a good person year round without having to have an impetus to do so. It is in my nature, which I had to discover about myself through several trials and situations in my life. The stereotype of having found myself is much more true than one would assume. Young people who set out early in their lives to "find" themselves are not wasting time, they are setting up the rest of their lives by experiencing it.
     I know that is how I came to be more myself. Yet even armed with that early knowledge I found a way to get sidetracked because my discipline was unprepared and lacking. So I had to struggle mightily for a time before I found my way back to just being me. There is room in my life for others and always will be but that group is growing smaller by the day. I have no wives, ex wives nor children in my life so the only ones who do try to maintain a relationship with me are the ones who have found themselves like minded and caring enough to try. I also do the same but not as much since my life is rather structured around home now with my animals and a desire to isolate more now than when I was younger.
     So today, although for most, a day of expectations and considerations is really just another day for me. I hope all days are special, especially since I am on the downward side of life, but even despite me the rest of the world needs a happiness about them that instructs and lifts their spirits about existing in this current realm. We shouldn't need a hoped for reality to bring out our best natures. But since we do have one of several we might as well try to evolve to being better people who don't place so much significance on ourselves to the diminution of others. The spirit of this holiday season helps to alleviate some of the drudgery of most all our other days but even then the holidays bring out depressive thoughts for many others because of the inequalities in our society.

(#4709) Grateful for what I have sorrowful for what I've lost

      I am no big believer in the holiday season per se. Of course as a child I was because I really didn't know why we did things but when those things were exciting like presents and wonderful meals I did have an expectation of happiness. As I have grown older and more aware of what life could be I am less excited about holidays that have less to do with the realism of our democracy and more to do with mythology. Yet as the year ends I do get caught up in the notion of what the previous and new year have brought and will bring. A sort of pause in time to reflect as it were.
     Nothing is different this year end as I think about what I still have and what I have lost. The haves far outweigh the losses and that is always special. There are no guarantees in this existence so coming out ahead is fortune and that should never be underappreciated. When the losses are weighed the pain and disappointment are heavy. Like a weakening of the soul, my spirit numbs itself so much so that my physical body feels it. But like all things alive we have this duality to us that has both the good and bad intermixed. But what got me thinking along this line of reasoning this morning was the losses being amplified above the many fortunes I have experienced.
     I don't wonder why this is but I do understand it. When good fortune strikes me it is welcomed but not sought. When loss strikes me it is unexpected and harsh. The balance between good fortune and loss is not an equal equation to me. The losses hit harder and deeper than any feel good fortune. I do appreciate and work for good fortune to come into my life but by no means would I ever hope for good fortune at the expense of loss. I understand my nature and embrace it as it is. So I am grateful for all the good that is in my life at the same time remorseful for what loss has occurred. I know I am fortunate in so many ways and even that makes me sorrowful as our society continues to favor some over others.

(#4708) The lessons we learned as children and how some haunt us to this day

     I remember being afraid a lot of the time because despite my infrequent boldness, much of what our younger generation experienced was rebellion against undemocratic policies mixed with our own exuberance. So being bold or honorable to higher callings of democratic principles often left us on the wrong side of the law. Mixed in with all that were the numerous opportunities to experiment with mind altering drugs. So some of our decisions, which would have been different without the "trips" we were on, were less than anything honorable. selfishness, idiocy, and callousness were often byproducts of many of our mind altering trips.
     I won't get into specifics so that I stay on point here. We were a generation sometimes lost within itself for the reasons of depression and apathy. Standing up to the man was something that could have been a rallying cry every day of our lives in every sector of society. So the sheer volume of wrong as we could see was enough to weigh us down and wear us out. When we are less than ourselves due to factors that should not be, then is when the unintentional wrong in our lives becomes reality. For so long I have had to listen to republicans tell me that it is all on us to make the best version of ourselves, yet I have not seen the proof of that. To me, like what democrats espouse, it is incumbent on all of us to help each other become the best of who we can become.
     The community of humanity must play a pivotal role in rearing the young, We don't just discard each other at birth and expect things to go better than if we were never discarded. That is the difference in the two political parties, democrats want us all in on each other whereas republicans want nothing to do with community nor individual help. The pull yourself up by your bootstraps is the republican motto whereas we democrats want the oars of the boat all pulling in the same direction. Merit and noble intent will eventually separate us in life due to our own personal natures so when we all start from about the same point we all have that opportunity to succeed without barriers or depressing bad memories of our never ending frustrations.

(#4707) The republicans in the senate are holding up appointments that would help infrastructure implementation

      The republican party could not stop the hard infrastructure bill from passing and becoming law but what they are doing is keeping staff positions from being filled by blocking nominations. So if there is no one leading specific necessary departments that would oversee and implement the funds toward the projects then republicans get another chance to screw things up for the working middle poor class. Which is their goal by the way. They are the party of the wealthy and not democratically driven to serve all the people. Which makes me wonder how the working middle poor class could even consider voting for them.
     I know there will always be racists and misogynists who can be fueled to hate the democratic party but that should not be their main focus. I would never put a prejudice above my economic welfare. Nefarious social issues that divide are reprehensible to begin with but to be so blatant a biased person to the point of bankrupting oneself is really an ignorant path to follow. But it seems that there are enough of these fools who hate, to make a difference here in US politics. The wealthy are doing really well without needing more help from republicans at the expense of the working middle poor class. So anyone who is voting for republicans who is not a greedy filthy rich person is just plain dumb.
     Last week the democrats in the senate were able to get republicans to agree to lift blocks on many of their ambassador and judicial nominations. Yet there are still too many administrative posts needing to be filled for moving along the hard infrastructure law into reality. The longer the republicans can drag out the positive and necessary effects of the hard infrastructure law the better for them as a propaganda tool to use against democrats in the coming election. Which is why people like me continue to call republicans out for their duplicity in messaging. They think Americans are too stupid to link them to delaying much needed progress in our society. Well they would be wrong because they are not being allowed to pull the wool over anyone's eyes any longer!

(#4706) The intent of our laws need to be a higher priority than any flaw within the law

      Intent. It is the basis for making our society an equitable one. When the intent of a law is found to be lesser a factor than some interpretation of a law that has some flaw to it then we all suffer at the hands of the manipulators. Those manipulators are most all the wealthy and powerful who wish to hold onto their advantaged gains and or "privileged" behaviors outside the intent of our laws. Let me explain something here, We are a species who are imperfect in most every way. From our inability to control time and space to our own devices for defining words and numbers. Don't get me wrong here, we have found a happy medium where all of us can communicate and decipher numbers and letters in our current civilization, however crude it may be to those in the future.
     So to expect us to write laws that can withstand the test of time in every permutation of understanding is laughable. It would suggest that we are not imperfect and should have known better. Which is again laughable. So how do we adjudge our laws so that they are not in constant upheaval? We go to the intent of our lawmaking. As an example of this I can go to the writing of our own United States of America Constitution. Many discussions were held to write it and those discussions were saved in order for the future generations to understand the thinking, "intent", behind their decisions. So it should be with every law that is written and codified.
     So that when some form of workaround for ulterior or known motive is argued the intent of the law should prevail where any question is less than perfectly answered. The intent expresses our will and not some tomfoolery that would negate the intent. Our judges at all levels need to be the first line of defense in responding to any attempt to subvert the will of a law outside the intent of it. That is what is missing in so many of our judicial decisions today. The highest priority should always be the intent of our laws regardless of how poorly interpreted our older and newer laws may have become. Just because big money can claim an interpretation in their favor does not make it legal to follow when the intent is disregarded.

(#4705) Build Back Better and we Americans took a knife to the back yesterday from brutus manchin

      I Suppose it was only fitting that brutus manchin went to fox not news yesterday morning and stabbed President Joe Biden and the vast majority of Americans in the back yesterday. Because as I have observed over the many months of watching the senate floor on Cspan-2, brutus manchin spends more time cajoling and glad handing his republican senate colleagues than he does with his own democratic party members. I know that philosophically brutus is aligned with the republican concept of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps even though most people cannot do that because of inherent deficiencies in our laws. But it is no surprise to me, just a huge letdown that sucked the joy right out of me for several hours.
     I had thought that brutus would be more true to his word and compromise in good faith even though he was opposed to the deal. Yet he didn't. Instead he delayed the Build Back Better agenda until he got his hard infrastructure bill passed and then he waffled for awhile and then yesterday morning stated he could not vote for the bill. It was typical brutus manchin behavior, waffle for a time then say no. But what was different this time and has me renaming him brutus is his actions just before his fox not news give away was his saying he called the president and dem leader Schumer to tell them of his decision to say no on Build Back Better.
     Well he didn't do that and instead had his staffers do it. That lie was enough for me to call him out as a traitor to the process but it isn't all. He acted like he was trying to get to a yes when in reality he was just looking for the right time to say no. He did put the knife to all of us by doing that and his lack of ethics and morality is now exposed. Little good that does any of us but it does speak to his very low character. It may be that the sun will come out tomorrow and a new beginning on something takes the place of this current slap down. But the fact that brutus manchin will never be regarded as a serious statesman has been confirmed by none other than himself.

(#4704) What aid will there be when we go back into lockdown?

      Hopefully Build Back Better will become law next month with voting rights protections as well. But now looming over our society is the fact that Covid has come back due to too many here in the United States not getting vaccinated and causing our nation to go back into a lockdown. It hasn't happened yet, the lockdown for Delta and Omicron, but it is coming. The one third of our society that is opposed to science and logic have made sure that this pandemic continues to haunt and kill us but they don't seem to care about the all of us. Well being that as it is, the next form of help from the government will need to come shortly.
     If we can hold out until our federal lawmakers come back into session in early January then good for us but if not then the federal lawmakers need to forego their holiday season and get back to work to keep us whole during the coming lockdown. Like previous rescue packages, keeping us from losing everything will need to be the goal. Too many of us are dependent upon an open society to make our way in this existence that is weaved so thoroughly with capital and profit. So some form of economic rescue will be required until we can get those who are not vaccinated to finally have their inoculations.
     How we do that may well depend on who is eligible for government aid during a new lockdown. As is the case with animals of a lesser intelligence, the carrot and stick theory of motivating needs to be employed. Get a carrot if you get vaccinated or get the stick if you don't. Seems like a logical approach to a society that allows for choice in most areas of motion. I for one am sick and tired of how the unvaccinated keep our health care workers at the breaking point of depression through all their unnecessary Covid infections. It is time to get an economic rescue package in the works again and then make it contingent upon vaccinating.

(#4703) Still holding out hope for a filibuster carve out of some sort for voting rights protections

      Like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football Lucy keeps moving at the last second, I am Charlie Brown, trusting her to not move it this time. I feel less than confident that Manchin will find his way to protect voting rights through a filibuster carve out but we Americans need it badly if we are to protect our democracy. With the full democratic senate caucus somewhat to mostly concerned now that protecting voting rights is the main issue of our day I can't but hope that the more reality challenged democrats in the senate will find their way to understanding the existential threat republicans are parlaying into undermining our democracy.
     It isn't as if they are doing it in secret either. So many republican controlled state legislators are passing laws to either restrict or obstruct eligible voters from voting. The republicans in the senate are also in total lockstep, excepting maybe republican Murkowski, to keep voting rights protections from even being discussed on the senate floor. The bill that we democrats are trying to debate in the senate is written by none other than the most moderate of democrats in our caucus, Joe Manchin. Yet even he cannot find the 10 republican senators needed to overcome the filibuster of required 60 votes to even begin to debate the merits of protecting our democracy. Yes, republicans are against protecting our democracy.
     So now a group of moderate democratic senators are trying to find a way to preserve the filibuster but to also allow for a vote that will pass Manchin's voting rights protection bill. We will see how it goes but to me there is no greater accomplishment that can be had coming from the senate in a generation and that is passing voting rights protections. I have hoped for this to be done for many months and if it does get done now then I will be a happy man who knows that the republican assault on our democracy will not go unchallenged.

(#4702) The momentum for a carve out for voting rights protections is mounting

      There have been a few silent democratic senators who had not endorsed changing the filibuster until recently. So now they are starting to voice their concern for our democracy by being blunt and pointed. They are calling for a carve out when previously they had not been willing to go that far. Still though the main obstacles to a carve out have been manchin and sinema. Well they are starting to feel the isolation that comes with their more silent backers now urging them to change their position. It is well past time and although it may appear to be too late, it isn't. I know how much peer pressure can play in these situations and manchin and sinema will feel it.
     If you watch C-span2 like I do when the senate is in session both manchin and sinema spend a lot of time on the republican side of the senate chamber cajoling and discussing. If one didn't know much about which party they belong to both could easily be seen as republicans given the nature of their positions on the senate floor. During regular times the republicans stay on their side of the chamber and democrats stay on theirs. But not with manchin and sinema. They spend as much if not more time on the republican side of the Chamber. Now we can't hear what they are discussing but if the friendly back slaps and laughter are any indication then it is assumable that both enjoy the company of their republican colleagues quite a bit too much.
     Especially since republicans are in lockstep to defeat any and all Biden bills that would help the democratic party. Which is why a lot of us are a bit confused by the positions of manchin and sinema. Why are they helping republicans undermine the Biden administration and the overall democratic chance to keep our majorities in Congress? An innocent observer would most likely conclude that both manchin and sinema are not democrats but instead more republican allies. If democrats do hold the senate in 2022, joe manchin keeps his 2 chairmanships. If not manchin loses both. So his behavior is doubly confusing. As to sinema her reversal from progressive polices to now conservative ones is more a betrayal to her constituents who thought they were getting a champion, not a turncoat!

(#4701) It is time to get into the mud with manchin and sinema over voting rights protections

      There is no more time to waste on being nice with manchin and sinema about carving out a voting rights protections clause from the senate legislative filibuster. No more time left to save our democracy before the next election. I have had it with both of them and now is the time to make or break them! Everything possible that can be done to put the stick to them needs to be done. We have tried the carrot for nearly a year and all we have gotten is nowhere with them. They have already reneged on passing the human infrastructure bill after agreeing to split the hard infrastructure bill out of the initial total infrastructure package.
     So trusting them is not to be done again. So no more mister nice guy. We need to hit them from every angle and do a major news narrative about how they both are allowing our democracy to crumble while they cozy up to the republicans who are behind it. At every turn they need to be cast out of the idea that they get the benefit of the doubt. There is no doubt any longer that they are on a mission to subvert the will of the people who elected Joe Biden as president and as far as they are showing they could care less if democrats continue to hold the majorities in the Congress.
     Even if it means we lose the current majority in the Senate, we must force them to either accept the will of the democratic caucus or be thrown out of their committee assignments. They need to be told to leave our party and then they will have to explain to their constituents why they could not be allowed to stay as democrats. Because they are not democrats but instead have more fealty to the republican party and their republican buddies who advise them. they are not fooling anyone here. They are the ones who are disgracing our democratic party, not the rest of us who have tried to convince them that 81 million people voted for Joe Biden and his agenda, not theirs!

(#4700) Always make the good decision

      We don't always know the correct decision to make as we live our lives but if we make good decisions we end up at the end of our lives with fewer regrets and more happy memories. Life isn't always so cut and dry so we do make mistakes early in life that will trouble us later but how we move forward from those early mistakes define our character and establish our morality. Which is why we who are adults and seniors need to be good examples to those who are young and don't know about how much it matters to be a good person than not. Regret and remorse are powerful memories and keeping them to a minimum is our only goal.
     None of us is perfect so do not kick yourself for past mistakes. Just do better at every turn and when you are finally done at the end of your life you should be okay and of a psychologically sound and truthful mindset. Contrary to what our overloaded capitalistic society wants us to believe, wealth accumulation is not a salve for how you attain it. So be good and common sensical about how you live in our society and don't leave yourself scarred from the experience. I know that my own life has had opportunities to exploit but in my heart of hearts I couldn't do it because I am not a thief nor liar by how I define what my actions are.
     I have always had to struggle to live a somewhat normal life but I knew it would be that way because I am no carpetbagger nor conman who is looking to fleece whomever crosses my path. I would rather share what little I could afford to share than take from others. I have always seen myself as a strong man who could survive harsh and cruel situations. I have done so and for that am satisfied that I took care of myself and didn't harm others along the way. Being a good person is a lifelong endeavor and should never be set aside under any circumstance. I know I have wanted to mete justice in a personal way but I have held back and consoled myself that I have not become the worst of who I could have been.

(#4699) Climate change is real and coming for us!

      As we continue to put capitalism above democracy and our very real survival as a species, the effects of man made climate change will not be denied. We can wish or hope that climate change is not that bad but as we found out over the weekend, with devastation wreaked upon our nations mid west states, it is bad and it is getting worse. Yet we have a political party, republicans, who keep defending dirty energy production, in spite of all the devastating evidence to the contrary. So much so republicans are defending dirty energy continuation that they are unable to argue or debate on the merits of their stance. It makes for a conundrum for them so they obfuscate, lie, and misdirect when having to face the reality of the grave folly they are thrusting upon us.
     I have been for several months banging on the gong about voting rights protections and that is correct for me to do so. However, I am not unaware of the effects of climate change and just how fast these effects are coming to a dangerous conclusion. The need to protect our voting rights so that the responsible ones of us in all political parties can vote to elect leaders who are not in the pocket of dirty energy and other greedy organizations that put their addiction to profit above safety and survival is needed now more than ever. Thinking about how the workers in that candle plant were told that either work or be fired during a tornado puts into perspective just how much greed and profit are embedded into the fabric of our lives.
     When the safety of folks is a lesser concern than meeting a quota for profit, we know that capitalism is not working as a tool for enlightenment nor modernity. The lust of greed and selfishness is not a value worth attaining. The cost of such behavior is unequal and destructive solely for some benefit that is worthless when life is lost and our environment is further degraded. Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, the disassociation of denying climate change while natural disasters continue to unfold is eerily similar. Every day some outlandish climate event is happening yet we cannot seem to decide to do something together as a species to stop it. The effects of climate change may be the ELE, extinction level event, that ends our species.

(#4698) Biden must convince Manchin

      Today is a big day. Joe Biden is meeting with Joe Manchin to get some legislative things done. If after this meeting Manchin is still an obstacle then I don't see any legislation in the near future that will address the Build Back Better legislation nor the voting rights protections bills. Which will be a bad thing for our democracy. One man, Joe Manchin is the one who will stake his name in history as the one person who allowed our democracy fail. It is that simple and that serious. For me it won't matter much because I am on the downside of my life. But for those who are coming along after me and others my age the reality they will face is daunting and troublesome.
     I expect that enough pressure from Joe Biden will be made to get Joe Manchin back into the fold of getting the democratic agenda done. There is no more time for posturing nor equivocating. The rubber meets the road this week and much forward motion must be attained for our democracy to survive. In several hours from now the cable news outlets will be trying to divine what comes out of the Biden/Manchin meeting and at that time we will have at least an idea. Manchin is already signaling that he needs assurances that the bill for Build Back Better is close to zero and not some astronomical cost.
     However it goes today will go a long way toward what our democracy will look like going forward. This week truly will set the tone for the rest of the period leading up to the election on November 8, 2022. Whether we are serving our economy and society through the programs in the Build Back Better bill and whether our democracy is functioning with an electoral system that is fair and equitable across state lines. Much is on the line with how we democrats come together this week. From what I can glean there is no animosity nor ulterior motive coming from either Manchin or Biden so hopefully logic and boldness will overrule hesitancy and laws will be passed to make more modern our society.

(#4697) The survival of democracy depends on us!

      We know what manchin and sinema need to do about the filibuster but what are we going to do if they don't stop being stooges to the republican party? Are we willing to protest in the streets that connect manchin and sinema to their worlds? Are we ready to fight to help those most effected by voter suppression tactics to get their votes cast? Are we going to make sure the new republican election workers are going to be fair instead of them being trump loyalists who will lie, cheat, and steal the election results? What are we going to do? Just sit back and take it on the chin and begin to accept that democracy is going to die at the hands of the worst human ever to be covered in the skin of a conman?
     This isn't about going to war with insurrectionists, this is about claiming our rights to express our views through words and actions at the ballot. We will lose both those rights to different degrees if we do nothing and allow the minority republican party to push we the majority aside. I am no shrinking flower when it comes to expressing my opinion nor to holding my hands up to fight. But what you do with me will tell the tale after the elections in 2022 and if we are lucky, 2024. Because there will be no guarantee that a fair election will even exist again after this coming election in 2022.
     So what will we do? Just keep living our lives waiting for someone else to save our democracy? Will we do nothing because we are too afraid or are too unwilling to protect the greatest form of government ever devised? Will we let a sniveling ruthless piece of shit like trump have his way with us because we are too cowardly to stand up to him? Will we just go about our lives as if nothing important is happening right under our feet? Will we accept that we need to be herded like cattle into our little spaces of existence without so much as a whimper about losing our right to choose our own path forward. Will we just look upon the words of this last paragraph and say guffaw to them as if they were embellishment or hyperbole not worthy of serious consideration? Probably all of this, we who are not worthy of having democracy to begin with!

(#4696) They are finally feeling the desperation we have felt for months

      Members of the senate are finally feeling the desperation that the many of us have been feeling since republicans in the states have been gerrymandering districts and restricting access to the ballot box. I am starting to see reporting from the national media that reflects our desperation. I don't know why it has taken the national media so long to understand that our democracy is hinging on whether we pass voting rights protections but welcome to the fight if indeed you are here to help. The few democratic senators in the senate who are holding onto the filibuster as it is without doing a carve out for voting rights protections are going to have to change their position.
     There is no other solution unless somehow 10 republicans decide to vote for a voting rights protections bill that joe manchin has authored. It is possible especially if they fear that manchin will acquiesce and allow for a filibuster carve out which could be a more equity based bill other than manchin's. We will see but at least we are seeing the beginning of some possible movement now that the national media is beginning to report about the precarious nature of our democracy. If all along manchin and sinema's desire to leave the filibuster alone was based on their reading of no real threat to our democracy then they are about to get a rude awakening.
     If their disconnect with reality has been that this senate rule was untouchable then they will know that they will be the ones who let our democracy crumble and allow for trump and his surrogates to regain power without democratic checks to their thirst for lifetime rule. I have been lambasting manchin and to a lesser extent sinema for months on this issue and rightly so because I am a defender of democracy who can see the utter contempt republicans have for our way of government. The republican party is in fear of not being in power because they don't want all Americans to participate in our democracy. That is why they are incessantly trying to block voters who traditionally vote against them and they use white nationalism to stoke a base that is not under attack by "others" contrary to their demagoguery on the subject.

(#4695) Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good

      It is funny that I had this thought about why manchin is holding up voting rights protections and the human infrastructure bill. He keeps coming up with these less than significant reasons for not doing something so that he can dictate the agenda of our nation. I am convinced that his less than 300 thousand vote total to win his West Virginia senate seat has gone to his head and for him outweighs the more than 81 million votes Joe Biden got in winning the presidency. The idea that manchin thinks he is a more popular or more experienced politician that Joe Biden is ludicrous and speaks to manchin's cognitive disassociation from reality.
     So as joe manchin and his inability to interpret reality in the larger picture goes so do the rest of us for now. I know that Joe Biden is trying mightily to convince manchin that he, Biden, is president and thus needs to stand by his campaign promises. Yet manchin is stubborn to the point of denying this reality and using his less than persuadable arguments to abut his claims. I know that every one under the sun has been trying to explain to manchin that he is on the wrong side of this but to no avail. Even when I watch the senate on Cspan2 during the day when the senate is in session, it seems that manchin spends more time with his republican counterparts cajoling and discussing issues than with his democratic colleagues who are actually trying to pass legislation to protect and enhance our nation.
     It is disturbing to see him and sinema more it tune with the traitors to democracy republican party but that is not a big deal to him or her. As far as manchin goes he is the real reason we democrats are teetering on losing the senate and house next year because he is preventing the will of the people. Most people expect Joe Biden to keep his campaign promises and if he doesn't it will be because manchin is playing at being president while our nation is about to burn to the ground. People like joe manchin need to be in therapy not determining the fate of our democracy!

(#4694) Build Back Better

      We are waiting on joe manchin to decide if he wants to let President Biden survive his presidency. Yes, it is at that level. As well on BBB but on voting rights protections. the idea that a monthly report about the inflationary rate for November would be the big holdup is almost laughable. This bill has been gone over by 17 Nobel Prize award winning economists and they say the long term effect will ease inflationary pressures. So for a democratic senator from a rural state with low population to say that he still worried about inflation in the face of world renowned economists is absurd and denotes a nefarious ulterior motive.
     BBB, among other great things, will get savings to our citizenry through child care cost cutting and allow our younger children the affordability of earlier education. How can one not see the benefits of this policy? Those like manchin who are worried about the, I don't know, the ether, are not on the same level with common/critical thinking. More children being educated and cared for by a larger workforce in the health and education industries will also open up more time for parents to return to work who would otherwise not be able to return. If modernization through creative innovative solutions so scares people like manchin then they need to find a different line of work.
     Even if we lost that West Virginia senate seat in the future to a republican party that has already shown they are devoid of the intellectual acumen to see a better future then so be it. What we lose in a seat we gain by not having a dishonest at least approach to policies that are productive and intelligent within our democratic party. Tomorrow the monthly index will be released showing what the inflation will be up to date. It is expected to rise about .5% which would likely be enough for manchin to pause any vote on BBB. Yet the consensus is that this will be the last larger than normal rise and all manchin will be doing going forward is denying America the best of all worlds with this bill so that he can gain in some other unknown area for himself, while allowing increased inflation. Hypocrisy, Shame on him!

(#4693) The importance of holding the House and Senate

      We democrats have a task before us given the unwillingness of manchin and sinema to pass voting rights protections. Because republicans have been gerrymandering and obstructing voting opportunities for democrats. Which will go a long way toward giving republicans many opportunities to add to their numbers in the House and keep democrats from voting in tight senate races. If the republican party succeeds in their voter suppression and gerrymandering tactics then the house will likely go to the republican party and then the misuse of house investigative procedures begins.
     What will hurt even more is the death of the January 6th commission with no results to show for nearly 2 years work. Everything the republican party is doing now to delay and defy the commission is aimed at ending the work of the commission once republicans take over the house. So the point here is to get manchin and sinema to reverse their positions and vote for voting rights protections to deny voter obstruction and gerrymandering so a fair election can be had. In a fair election the odds of republicans taking over become less than even, even when the traditional model should favor them.
     However these are not traditional times and if manchin and sinema would work to pass voting rights protections then we democrats have a better than even shot of improving our numbers in the house and senate. Which would give us another 2 years under President Biden to pass significant legislation and keep the investigations of the January 6th commission alive. Tackling immigration reform, including DC and Puerto Rico statehood possibilities, and once and for all passing common sense police and gun reform. Getting our national minimum wage up and passing Supreme Court term limits would also be on the horizon. So let us fight as hard as possible to keep control of the house and senate.

(#4692) Our social contract within democracy demands our protection!

      Only once before has the stench from within our democracy been this serious as to question the legitimacy of our democracy going forward. That one other time was our Civil War back in 1860. Having put that in perspective I am now tasked with showing you why I say they are nearly equally disruptive. Our Civil War was about keeping human beings as slaves, thus less than citizens. This current denial of voting protection rights is about reclassifying citizens as less than other citizens. Not quite to the level of slavery in it's application but a true diminution of individual rights and societal participation.
     Once again it is the conservatives/libertarians within our political spectrum who would deny rights to many in order to preserve advantages and privileges for themselves. While again it is we liberals/progressives who are faced with stopping them in the court of public opinion, court of law, and if needed, again on the battlefield. There cannot be another attempt allowed within our democracy by those who would take democratic values and subjugate them to authoritarian cruelty. Our democracy has been held in high esteem for centuries and for us now to lose that esteem to a gang of thieves, thugs and conmen is not to be borne!
     This rallying cry by the many of us can be simply solved with the 2 rogue senators in the democratic caucus voting to carve out voting rights protections from their unreasoned argument and misinformed belief of the sanctity of the filibuster senate rule. Manchin and Sinema can avert a disastrous scenario where the chaos of stolen election claims and denied legal voting is the outcome. These 2 senators have it within their power to stop the republican party from claiming victory in our elections even though they have fewer votes. You would think these 2 senators would see the urgent necessity of protecting voting rights as a constitutional duty yet so far they have not had that ability.

(#4691) The manchinema care less about democracy than they do about undermining it through capitalism

      What is becoming painfully obvious is the failure of the manchinema, manchin and sinema, to understand the hierarchy of our form of government and society. Instead of them placing the highest priority on democracy, which is where most all the rest of us throughout our United States history have previously done, they have given themselves over to seeing less democracy and more capitalism as the highest priority. Yes, an economic system that rewards a few and disadvantages the many in it's pure form. So instead of having a pure form of capitalism for our economy we the citizenry expect a mix of capitalism and socialism to define our economic system.
     Well the manchinema are not so keen on that. They have taken the position of discounting the socialism side of the equation and instead are hell bent on mostly protecting the pure capitalism side. Sure they are for improving roads and bridges and making broadband readily available but those do less for the everyday citizen than they do for the wealthy and powerful. As well the idea that democracy needs t be protected through preserving our right to vote and access to the ballot box is less concerning to them since they put an archaic rule of the senate, the filibuster, as a higher priority than enshrining into law protocols for protecting our democracy.
     Think about that for a moment. Every republican senator has voted no to protecting our voting rights while 2 democrats have yet to say yes to protecting our voting rights. So 48 senators who are democrats are for protecting our voting rights, 2 are not yet committed to doing the same, and all 50 republican senators are against protecting our voting rights. With these numbers in the senate the presidents policy of protecting voting rights is being held hostage by 2 members of the democratic party. We know that the worthless republican party will never pass voting rights protections because they are the ones eroding voting rights. So the anti democratic manchinema is the block to protecting our democracy.

(#4690) No human infrastructure bill nor a voting rights protection bill

      Two things we absolutely have to have before the next election are now appearing to be gone. With manchin saying that he is against passing the human infrastructure bill now and him and sinema against a filibuster carve out for voting rights protections the likelihood that either pass before the coming election are pretty low. Even though the voting rights protection bill was mainly written by manchin he is still causing it to die in the senate. As well the human infrastructure bill, the BBB, build back better, was promised as a second part to the hard infrastructure law. That manchin is now ready to go back on his commitment to pass both is typical of his not being honest with the rest of us.
     This is Joe Biden's presidency but it might as well be manchin's. The direct opposition by manchin to all the rest of the democratically controlled senate excepting in part sinema is infuriating. Joe Biden was elected as our leader, not joe manchin. Yet manchin is playing the part anyway like some spoiled child who cannot accept the fact that he is a representative of a small group of people, not the whole country. He cannot accept that the leader of his party has decided the future for our society and is instead deciding what he wants for our country. Well no one elected joe manchin to lead all of us and his damned ego had better stop running amok so that the real president, not trump nor manchin, can do his duty to the rest of us.
     I am coming to accept that reality of manchin and sinema are doing their ego driven best to muck modernity up for not only we the American society but for democrats on whole. With little more than nothing being done going forward joe manchin and kyrsten sinema have accomplished their goal of giving republicans all the talking points they need to defeat democrats and control Congress in 2022. We the American citizenry deserve better than manchin and sinema and if karma is the only avenue we have left to receive justice then bring it on. I am not satisfied with manchin and sinema for wrecking the future of our nation and no one else with a lick of sense should be either!

(#4689) Be a man/woman among men/women

      What I mean here is step up and above the routine and regular. Be better than just normal. Allow yourself to rise to a greater height than just getting by and following the crowd. Find what is good and right in the world and make it yours, then stand by it with all your character. Life is a short period of time in the big picture, so make yourself the person you admire and then protect that person. Because what that does is give others something of value to see and then they will hopefully emulate that. Many of us have lost the idea of making ourselves into something that is near and dear to being an honorable human.
     A strong principled person who has more to themselves than just me me me. I know how this capitalistic world of ours works yet I don't care. I do things for me that satisfy a need to be bold and truthful and if others want to share in that then come along because there is no charge. I am not here selling anything to anyone, just expressing ideas that have a solid value in the framework of logic and care. Otherwise the whole point of altruism is lost. The inner child in me has always been the happiest part of who I am and being my inner child in a mature and respectful way is the best of who I am.
     So whether you are a male or female the idea that you can express yourself for the sake of being a good and valued example is always here. There are no restrictions on you that would keep you from becoming the best version of yourself unless of course that isn't your greatest priority. Then you will have to struggle in life wondering why you are not as happy as others nor as proud of yourself as you should be. It is within all of us to reshape our current lives to fit the narrative we know as our best selves. All we have to do is stop being what we are not happy, nor content being and then start being what makes us happy and content. Life is too short not to otherwise.

(#4688) The monthly struggle to pay the bills

      The first of the month is the hardest part of the month. Sure I get to pay the existing bills but then the rest of the month becomes a chore as to how to budget for it. Going into temporary debt is the likely scenario, only to be paid off at the beginning of the next month and then the cycle begins again. Soon I hope through frugal spending habits to get myself ahead of the economic game. When I actually have cash budgeted for the entire month then I will be satisfied that my efforts have been worthy. Yet there is always something unexpected that happens to bring me back down into negative balances.
     I should be happy nonetheless because I have little credit card debt and I own my own home outright such as it is. So as I sweat the little things I am overall in a good place. None of this would be possible if I hadn't found the courage and will to change my life from destructive patterns. I stopped doing the arrogant and foolish things that kept denying me a future with hope and promise. So these monthly battles I have with budgeting and scraping by are really a good sign that I have a pathway toward a healthy and acceptable life. It has been my honor to be alive and live a fairly good life and keeping my head above hopelessness is an example of that.
     How fortunate I am to be someone who appreciates the efforts of others who came before me to raise up the level of life to a point where despair and disgust are not the only future for me. I am smiling this morning despite my enduring struggle to not only take care of myself but to help others as I am able. I have not forgotten that actually living life for its benefits is greater than kicking dirt and raising my fist to the sky. I have finite days in life left and being a good steward of what I am responsible for and being upbeat about that responsibility is more important to me than any bucket list or thought that I may have missed out on something. It is good to struggle to pay the bills until I get to the point where it is great to not have to do that.

(#4687) Still a hermit

      It has been my own personal nature to be alone as a rule since my early halcyon days of hippiedom and personal growth. I was out in the social construct of our society from the start of my life up until I grew weary of the effort to keep my life intact due to aging, survival instincts, and bad habits. Since then I have found that being alone, like a man who actually could live in a cave, is more who I have become. The excitement of learning about life has long worn off and to this day I am glad that my youth was spent on living hard and fast instead of slow and steady.
     I am all about slow and steady now that I have little choice in the matter. My bones and muscles ache from the wear and tear of being a "Joe Danger" kind of guy, First to try the physically difficult and last to leave the field of play and entertainment. That is how life should be lived in my view. A bit foolish and ready to experience while trying to hang on for the second act of life. The first act for me was an adventure to experience, the second act much less that and more sitting here alone at my computer console finding new ideas and ways of understanding.
     Two of my nephews stopped by late yesterday afternoon for a short visit on their way down the coast and their visit reminded me that I have had very few visits from anyone lately, largely due to Covid. Yet even without Covid I am not one who encourages anyone to visit for any reason. I am really becoming that hermit I identify with. With the Internet I am able to contact many and feel like I am still part of the world. Through my blog especially I get to write about how I view the world and what actions I think need to be taken to make our world better. The first act of my life was all about being with people, now this second act is all about being around as few people as possible.

(#4686) How do you see our future?

      This is the difference in the 2 major political parties. We democrats see a world where all of us are included in the opportunity for prosperity without obstructions and prejudice. Whereas republicans see the world as full of obstructions and prejudices where only the advantaged and privileged may have prosperity. It really is that simple to understand. Once you start from this point in time then all the actions by most all democrats to create a better more fair world make sense. Conversely, when you start from this point then all the actions by most all republicans prove their intent to separate and divide the many of us from opportunities to prosper.
     You don't have to be a political scientist nor a sociology/psychology major to understand the differences. Those of us who make damn sure that we are fighting for equal and equitable rights for all people, are true believers in democracy. Those who are republicans prefer not to fight for democracy but instead a mutation of it where they get the benefits of a democratic system while denying those same benefits to others. Whatever you want to call that system of theirs where republicans are more special than everyone else doesn't matter. What does matter is that they are trying to undermine democracy so that instead of helping people improve in their lives they prefer to hurt people and keep their lives more miserable.
     So whenever I hear a republicans tell me that it isn't personal with them I want to threaten them with a 2 x 4 and call them a liar. Because it is personal with those many of us who are denied and crushed by unfair and unequal opportunity, and injustice. The republican party has a logic problem. They won't let the lack of logic persuade them that they are in the wrong in how they see our future. Because they don't see our future, instead they only see their own future. Their selfishness and disregard for ethical and moral leadership is astounding yet they crow like they are some gift to the rest of us. Their condescension is only exceeded by their vanity and that is why no one should ever vote for a republican for any office that represents we the people.