Thursday, June 04, 2015

Misc.

I did not cough up $2700 dollars to attend Hilary Clintons fundraiser yesterday in Albuquerque.  About 300 attended with maybe half paying that much to get in.  Still, it is a good crowd and shows her strength amongst the old guard of the Democratic Party.  It is pretty hard to tell what the rest of the democrats are thinking about in the state until we see some polling.  I am assuming many are like me and want to stop reaching into the 90's for our leadership, but are willing to work hard for her if she gets the nomination.

I am not so sure that is a lock for her.  Maryland's Martin O'Malley could generate some excitement, although like me he will be hated by the assault rifle toting NRA mascots.  Lincoln Chafee has entered the race also.  Don't forget all of their chances are destined to hinge on a bunch of corn on the cob eating delegates in Iowa.  What an insane system!

There is a wonderful story in the New York Times this morning that shows how incredible internet service can be when there is some competition.  In South Korea the populace has speeds and services twice as fast as Americans with great free access.  Even in their subways.  Sometime I daydream about kidnapping the CEOs of the internet providers like Comcast and subjecting them to some kind of mind altering torture.  Maybe like trying to deal with american airline rate schedules and poor service.  Stick them in that hell for a while.  That would be fun.

Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and the rest of the GOP menagerie just keeps growing.  The good thing about it is that there are not enough right wing religious fundamentalists to split up amongst them.


3 comments:

New Mexican said...

I wish there was someone who would address the huge foreign aid to Israel. Someone who would ask questions of the total support and financing of the Israeli "state" by the United States. I think we need to get over that hump. The U.S. is a major reason this area of the world is so unstable, we need to acknowledge that and do something about it. It is not appropriate that the Israeli lobby has as much influence in American politics as it does. I will be asking these questions of anyone running for office who may have an influence.

Anonymous said...

I find it VERY interesting that you left out the name of Bernie Sanders as a Dem.candidate for Pres. What is up with that?
If there is anyone that is not controlled by BIG money it is Bernie. He takes none unlike the Hill/Bill soap opera that are in bed with the bankers and other 1%ers. Hill worked for MONSANTO and WALMART for cripe sakes.
Your omission of Sanders speaks volumes.

Anonymous said...

Few people realize that Bernie Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, is also running for president on the Democratic side. The media covers him less than any of the Republican candidates although he outpolls each one of them right now.

To that point, an article at MSNBC today headlined "Bernie Sanders Is Surging Among White Democrats" has a picture of Hillary Clinton.

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/bernie-sanders-surging-among-white-democrats-others-really-hillary-n369251

New Mexican is exactly correct, and alas, Bernie is a good friend of Israel, which really tempers my support for him. Just about anyone who runs for public office is, and when they aren't they have a good chance of getting knocked off.

I saw an article today though where Barak Obama is hinting at letting the UN vote on Palestinian statehood, which would be a big thing. For a US president to even hint at it is big news. Israel and the US have always made sure Palestinians didn't acquire that legitimacy and gain the legal tools it would give them, plus, it has allowed Israel to keep stealing Palestinian land. Obama has taken a few baby steps like this while negotiating the land mine that comes with doing anything against Israel and he is to be commended for that, I say.

It's not unrealistic, however, to think that US policy regarding Israel could change. Young people are more apt to know more of what is going on over there, and the BDS movement slowly but surely gains momentum worldwide. It would really be helpful if we let our politicians know this is an important issue.