Monthly Archives: March 2016

Burn the Bern

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That’s the word that has gone out to every Demorat and Repuglican hit team, too.

Demorats have poured millions of dollars into discrediting his ability to beat Hillary Clinton now and any Repuglican in November. Repugs chant “socialist,” and “communist,” and “unwashed masses” — the codewords they bring out to tar that which they fear.

Why are the parties so afraid of Mr. Sanders, too?

He voted against the Iraq war. He rails against big business and the rich. One of his most popular quotes is that if a bank is too big to fail, then it’s too big to exist. He wants dump ObamaDon’tCare (say what?). Don’t worry, he’ll implement Medicare for everyone. Including US Congressmen. He’s Elizabeth Warren but louder. He strongly wants campaign reform. He calls himself “independent.”

Worse yet, people love Bernie Sanders.

The fact that Mr. Sanders has never actually passed a piece of legislation doesn’t seem to matter to anyone; he has his say!

The Demorats have it much easier than the Repuglicans.

They have 718 superdelegates whose sole purpose is to put their fingers on the scale to prevent nominations like that of Bernie Sanders from ever happening.

If Mr. Sanders shows up at the convention with more delegates than Ms. Clinton, you can bet the marching orders are, “Burn the Bern.”

Tomorrow is another big day with five presidential primary elections and a Repuglican party caucus (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, the Northern Marianas, North Carolina, and Ohio.)

I expect you’ll vote for someone tomorrow. I hope you won’t vote for the worst liars in the bunch (pantsuit-on-Fire Hillary Clinton, UnTrusTED Cruz, or second string Marco Rubio).

Who’s left?

We need a loose cannon in politics now more than ever but we’ve been growing little water pistols and arming them with blanks, I wrote four years ago. It’s even more true today, although the water pistoleers are starting to load acid.

Loose cannons Bernie Sanders on the far left and Donald Trump on the middle right. I hope you will vote for one or the other. Instead of burning the Bern, let’s burn the parties.

I wrote more about Derailing the Donald over here.

Who knows? With two “populists” running head to head in November, anything can happen.

 

Derail the Donald

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That’s the word that has gone out to every Repuglican and Demorat hit team in the universe.

Forget Occupy Wall Street. Today it’s Occupy Donald Trump.

Repuglicans have poured millions of dollars into a negative ad campaign to discredit his ability to beat Hillary Clinton in November. Demorats chant “hatred,” and “racism,” and “uneducated masses” — the codewords they bring out to tar that which they fear.

Why are the parties so afraid of Mr. Trump?

“The Repubs are reaping the results of the misinformation, division, racism, and fear they have been feeding the public since Barack Obama took office,” my oh-so-liberal friend Fanny Guay said. That is the Demorat’s party line, but the reality is that the only people ever to play the division or race cards in politics are liberals.

And misinformation belongs to both parties.

Pundits and establishment Repuglicans alike pretend they have no idea what will come out of the Donald’s mouth next, but that’s not true either. We all know perfectly well what he’ll say and we think we know what he’ll do.

Establishment Repugs and Demorats alike know they won’t control a Trump administration they way they have controlled the process for decades.

The unholy triad of big government, big business, and big media reaps billions and they protect one another to keep it flowing. No one cares who sits in the White House as long as government keeps getting bigger, programs keep programming, and the money keeps flowing. It’s a filthy relationship that makes everyone filthy rich. Everyone except thee and me. Everyone except We the Overtaxed People. We get ripped off.

The maverick Donald Trump doesn’t need anyone’s help so the Dems can’t control him either.

Worse, the radical Donald Trump may well prosecute the movers and shakers of that unholy triad, starting with Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton themselves and that keeps people up at night.

Even Bernie Sanders wouldn’t do what Mr. Trump could.

Hence the adjectives thrown around. “Toxic.” “Racist.” “Scam.”

Misinformation. It’s what they do.

Is Mr. Trump causing or simply riding the toxic atmosphere?

John Dickerson took Mr. Trump to task for the violence at his campaign rallies.

I call foul.

Mr. Sanders says “Donald Trump has been incredibly divisive…”

Interesting. It’s Mr. Trump’s fault when his supporters take a shot, but never the good guys who the first punch. Never, Mr. Sanders said. “Our campaign has never once organized any effort disrupt Mr. Trump’s rallies…”

In fact, every news report I’ve seen blames Mr. Trump for the increasing violence at his events and every news report I’ve seen fails to mention the Demoratic candidates the violent protestors represent. And no reporter would ever blame a Demoratic protestor for the rampages.

A Gallup poll last year found that six in 10 Americans say that their trust in mass media ranges from “not very much” to “none at all.” Trust in the mass media has fallen even more sharply among those younger than 50.

I wonder why.

Mr. Trump has 460 delegates to Mr. Cruz’ 370, Mr. Rubio’s 163, and Mr. Kasich’s 63. Ms. Clinton has 771 pledged delegates plus probably 460 “superdelegates” vs. Mr. Sanders’ 576.

There are 718 superdelegates whose sole purpose is to put their fingers on the scale to prevent nominations like that of Bernie Sanders who displeases the party insiders. Right now the Repugs are wishing they had superdelegates. Right now the Repugs are probably rewriting the convention rules so they do have superdelegates.

Americans also gave the GOP a 63% favorable rating and the Demorats 61% in 2015. This is the only time since Gallup began tracking the parties’ images in 1992 that neither party has achieved at least 40% favorability from the public.

I wonder why.

Tomorrow is another big day with five presidential primary elections and a Repuglican party caucus (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, the Northern Marianas, North Carolina, and Ohio. Florida and Ohio are winner-take-all on the Republican side).

I expect you’ll vote for someone tomorrow. I hope you won’t vote for the worst liars in the bunch (pantsuit-on-Fire Hillary Clinton, UnTrusTED Cruz, or second string Marco Rubio).

Who’s left?

We need a loose cannon in politics now more than ever but we’ve been growing little water pistols and arming them with blanks, I wrote four years ago. It’s even more true today, although the water pistoleers are starting to load acid.

I wrote more about Burning the Bern over here.

Loose cannons Donald Trump on the middle right and Bernie Sanders on the far left. I hope you will vote for one or the other tomorrow. Instead of derailing the Donald, let’s derail the parties.

In any event, the only positive political ads on TV during the news are for Viagra and Cialis. Yeppers, we’re gonna get screwed.

 

Ayup

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Another of our randomly local stories.

Street sign theft has become a budget issue for a many municipalities. Peeps steal the signs as pranks, on a dare, for decoration, and even to claim the sign was missing to beat a ticket. “Signs that are unusual or amusing tend to be stolen more frequently.”

The theft is often costly and inconvenient (and can possibly be dangerous) for the municipality or agency that owns the sign. In the United States, street signs generally cost between $100 and $500 to replace although, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation, the bigger freeway signs cost between $30,000 and $77,000. Radio host Dori Monson has a word or two to say about that on MyNorthwest.com.

I know I’m tempting fate but I’m pretty sure no one has ever stolen North Puffin’s Abblesnaffy Boulevard sign.

Embden, Maine cannot say the same for Katie’s Crotch.

Katies Crotch Rd

The Maine town spends hundreds of dollars every year to replace their stolen street signs. Fortunately, Maine doesn’t contract with WashDOT.

Katies Crotch Road starts in East New Portland, crosses Gilman Stream, and parallels the Carrabassett River before ending on Route 16 connects Embden. I’m thinking every wag who dates a Katherine envies those road signs. Town officials unsuccessfully proposed changing the name to just Katie Road at Town Meeting on Saturday.

The road has been known as Katies Crotch since long before there were street signs in town but no one fesses up to knowing why. There used to be a tavern run by a woman named Katie on that road. We don’t know what kind of Katie she was, but eyebrows generally wiggle when that story is told. Another explanation leaves out the tavern but has that a woman named Katie used to live on the road and would sit on her porch wearing no underwear. Eyebrows waggled a lot more with that. A less intriguing story has it that a family with the last name Katie used to live at the intersection with Route 16, and “crotch” referred to the V shape of the intersection. I think it’s named for the tree that grew there that six-year old Katie climbed and perched in before she was taken from us in that unfortunate accident with the timber truck and biplane.

Zillow lists a nice looking, 768 square foot, 1 bedroom, single family camp on 1.66 acres on Katies Crotch Road. Water views and everything.

That sign may be the most stolen in the country. The Selectboard chair says the thefts occur so frequently that “you would think every dorm room in the state of Maine should have one by now.” It cost $200 last year alone, not including labor, to replace the one road sign in Embden. A previous motion to rename the street failed in 2012.

Fortunately, the measure for a new Interstate with an Embden exit (and the accompanying $30,000 sign, approximated below) also failed although Troy, Michigan reports that their Big Beaver Road, Exit 69, is only the seventh most stolen road sign in the nation.

Katies Crotch Rd - Exit 69