Even When We Have A Criminal / Dangerous / Incompetent President

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.
—    Ralph Waldo Emerson
[Whenever I feel like I’m obsessed with hoping #DonTheCon is forced to resign, I think of Senator Barry Goldwater’s quote:  “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.  And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”  While I would enjoy seeing #IncompetentTrump voted out of office, every additional day he is in Office is another day when America’s freedom and security —  and the security of our allies  —  is put at risk.   —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Closer To Understanding
	On My Knees
2020	Profit From Ongoing Disintegration
	I’m A Dreamer
2019	Even When We Have A Criminal / Dangerous / Incompetent President
2018	But It Keeps Trying
	Blue Wave, But Not Blue Tsunami
2017	The Promise At Risk
2016	Or As Will Come In Time
2015	It Is Another Beautiful Day At The Red Pony Bar And Continual Soiree…
2014	Days And Years
2013	Currency And Transport
2012	Something Which Did Not Exist Before
2011	True Magic

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Dominoes Or Jenga?

The first of many?   …  Special Representative for Ukraine:  Kurt Volker resigns.
The starting list:
While I’m 99% positive an impeachment trial of #CriminalDonald will fail in the Senate (Thank You, “Moscow Mitch” McConnell), it will be interesting to see what effect the Republican cowardice in the face of Presidential criminal activity will have on the elections in November 2020.  And to think, there was once a time when I could admire (not support or agree with, but admire) a principled Republican (Barry Goldwater, Howard Baker, Everett Dirksen).   Dwight Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt (Republicans and Presidents I could agree with) must be turning over in their graves.
I recall an image from my childhood (“Weeping Lincoln”  –  Bill Mauldin’s famous cartoon about the JFK assassination) and, somehow, it seems equally appropriate today:
A Criminal In The Oval Office:  Another Reason To Cry
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On This Day In:
2021	An Impossible Situation
	I Fear It Is (For Us If Not The Planet)
2020	#45 Never Shuts Up
	Walkin’ In The Rain With The One I Love
2019	Silly Pooh Bear
	Dominoes Or Jenga?
2018	Very Few
2017	Or The Candidate Who…
2016	The Happiest People
2015	Jumping Into The Dark
2014	I Would Be Sillier
2013	It Keeps Happening Anyway
2012	Take Time
2011	A Mother’s Lesson
2010	3rd Pair – Shoe Review (DOA and Final)

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Is America Ready: Mayor Pete – 2020!!

“Mayor Pete” Buttigieg for President in 2020
Say it with me: “Boot Edge Edge“
About a month ago I saw this young guy get interviewed.  The interviewer said the guy was the Mayor of some place in Indiana (okay, it was South Bend, but all I heard was blah, blah hicks-ville, Indiana).  He is in his second term and got re-elected with over 80% of the vote!  He is a graduate of Harvard and an Oxford Rhodes Scholar.  He speaks seven languages and learned one of them just so he could read a book in the author’s native tongue.  He is a former Naval intelligence officer and served in Afghanistan (for seven months) while on leave without pay from his mayoral duties.
So, I listened to him speak…  And, I decided.
Prior to this, my three favorites for the Democratic nomination were (in order):  Warren, Harris and Saunders.  (Yes, I am a Progressive / Liberal Democrat!)  To be honest, I think all have their weaknesses, but I believe any of them could defeat Trump.  The rest of the field, I’m not so sure of (including Biden), I don’t know anything about or I don’t really care for.  Anyway, I went online and bought a t-shirt – not realizing Mayor Pete hadn’t declared yet and was still in “just” the exploratory phase.
My daughter came over that evening and we were discussing who we each were favoring.  I said:  “Mayor Pete, but I can’t pronounce his last name.”  She said: “Do you really think he can get elected?”  I replied:  “Sure.  Why not?”  Her reply:  “He’s opening gay…”  WHAT???
She asked how I could support him knowing this and pointedly adding that putting up a candidate who could defeat Trump was the most important thing the Democrats could do and she didn’t think the country was ready to elect an openly gay man.  I said I agreed, but I didn’t think the country was ready to elect an African-American in 2008 or re-elect him in 2012 and look how those elections turned out.
Does being straight or gay matter when you are running for ANY political office?  From an electability standpoint, of course it does.  But should it?  If I don’t believe faith (Kennedy), infidelity (Bill Clinton and probably a host of others), race (Obama) or gender (Hilary Clinton) matter, why should sexual orientation?  Is being “straight” critical to Presidential job performance?
When asked about whether gays should serve in the military, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater replied (I’m paraphrasing):  “I don’t care if someone is straight.  I just want to know if they can shoot straight.”  We KNOW President Trump is not very bright (he doesn’t read and has no curiosity), is a liar, is a cowardly draft dodger, is a tax cheat, is a terrible businessman, he appears to be a Russian puppet and he seems to only be interested in making money off of his term in office.  On balance, Mayor Pete is intelligent, well spoken, well read, a patriot and more than competent in his current office over the last two terms, so no, being openly gay does NOT matter to me.
I hope American will listen to what “Mayor Pete” has to say…  Then you can make up your mind and vote you heart.
Is America ready for an openly gay President?  To be honest, I don’t know…  But, I AM!
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On This Day In:
2022	Or Simple Truths You Don’t Want To Believe
2021	I Never Could Keep A Secret
	A Half A Mile Or So
2020	Facing The Truth
2019	How Much Is Your Education Worth?
	Is America Ready: Mayor Pete – 2020!!
2018	Disruptive Definition
2017	A History Of Small Insights
2016	Be Uncommon
2015	Ooops!
2014	What Price Freedom?
2013	Remembering Val
2012	Good-bye, Val
	Survival Value
2011	Traitors In Our Midst
	Life Ain’t Easy

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Liberty, Collusion, History And The Republican Majority

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
―    Martin Luther King Jr.
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!  And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!
―    Senator Barry Goldwater
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On This Day In:
2022	Try Walking
2021	Probably Why It Hurts So Bad
	5-0
2020	Unlike Faux News Viewers
2019	I Don’t Know Truth, Either
2018	An Approaching Disgrace
2017	Liberty, Collusion, History And The Republican Majority
2016	But I Have Too Many Questions
2015	A New Friend
2014	Do I Have To Fall In Love?
2013	More Democracy, Please
2012	Speaking Of Love
2011	Limits

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Heroes Restored

I cherish a day when our children once again, will restore as heroes the sort of men and women who – unafraid and undaunted – pursue the truth, strive to cure disease, subdue and make fruitful our natural environment, and produce the inventive engines of production, science and technology.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
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On This Day In:
2021	Why We Protect The First Amendment
	When A Voice Can Make You Cry
	The March Continues…
2020	#45: And State Prison Waits When You Leave Office
	I Keep Getting Up
	Difficult To Relax
2019	Looking For A Republican With A Profile In Courage
2018	Hammers, Bells And Songs
2017	My Friends
2016	In Need Of Some Work
2015	Elections Have Consequences
2014	An Ear Of Happy Accidents
2013	Powerful Substitute
2012	Heroes Restored
2011	As You Should

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47%

We must assure a society which, while never abandoning the needy or forsaking the helpless, nurtures incentives and opportunities for the creative and the productive.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
[I guess that first part about “abandoning or forsaking” doesn’t really apply for one side of this year’s Presidential election…  Just sayin’.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	A Model Democrat
	Listen Mister
2020	The Main Thing: Vote!
	No Other Reason
2019	A Big “IF”
2018	Committed To Thinking
2017	More Pictures From My (Family) Retirement Party
	A Fondness For Sins
2016	Are You Waiting?
2015	The Future Myth
2014	Hands
2013	Because You Have Lived
2012	47%
2011	Conservative Values: Low And Lax
2010	A Non-Zero Sum Game
	What If “c” Isn’t A Constant?
2009	Pictures from UCLA trip…

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Champion Freedom

Let us henceforth make war on all monopolies — whether corporate or union.  The enemy of freedom is unrestrained power, and the champions of freedom will fight against the concentration of power wherever they find it.
—    Sen. Barry Goldwater
From his book:  “The Conscience Of A Conservative“
[For thirty years we have seen nothing but union busting, worker subjugation and the steady increase of power (economic and political) by the corporations willing to weaken America and our freedoms by the constant drumbeat of foreign competition – by both exporting jobs to other countries and importing labor to increase the supply of workers inside the United States.  The net effect of both tactics must always be to drive down the costs of labor for all workers even those at the very top end of the labor market (corporate management).  It is simple supply and demand.  It is just a matter of time before multinational corporations recognize they don’t have to pay hundreds of millions to American executives, when they can pay tens of millions to Asian or European executives.  The loss of jobs is incremental from the bottom up – workforce, supervisors, management, executives.  The American conservative movement has promoted the erosion and crippling of the workforce (apprentice and journeyman) and supervisor levels of our economy.  Much of the management level has also been lost.  Executives are increasingly in the target cross-hairs…  Where are our champions of freedom?     —     kmab]
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And History Has Proved This Correct

“Republican candidates,” Vice President Nixon has said, “should be economic conservatives, but conservatives with a heart.”  President Eisenhower announced during his first term, “I am conservative when it comes to economic problems but liberal when it comes to human problems.”  Still other Republican leaders have insisted on calling themselves “progressive” Conservatives.”  These formulations are tantamount to an admission that Conservatism is a narrow, mechanistic economic theory that may work very well as a bookkeeper’s guide, but cannot be relied upon as a comprehensive political philosophy.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
Quoted from his book:  “The Conscience Of A Conservative“
[Isn’t it interesting that Senator Goldwater was able to tell us over 50 years ago EXACTLY what the problem is with Conservatism in the United States.  In fact, he did not go far enough, because he should have stated not that it could not be relied upon, but that it would ultimately fail miserably for a functioning government in a country moving to a post-manufacturing society.  Note:  I did NOT say “post-industrial”.  We have industries.  We simply don’t manufacture enough solid, tangible goods to support our society and our economic welfare.  I would argue the current Republicans are NOT Conservatives at all.  They are Corporatists.  They are not interested in personal freedom.  They ARE interested in Corporate profits.  Full stop.    —    kmab]
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Straight Shooters

You don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country.  You just need to shoot straight.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
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Say What?

To disagree, one doesn’t have to be disagreeable.
—   Senator Barry Goldwater
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Respect And Prestige

We cannot allow the American flag to be shot at anywhere on earth if we are to retain our respect and prestige.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
[Symbolically, I agree with the Senator.  Practically, I prefer to defend and protect our people rather than our symbols.  Toleration of free speech does not equal toleration of personal physical attacks (let alone gun shots).    —    kmab]
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Emancipated Differences

Equality, rightly understood as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences;  wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
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Remember

Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
[Remember that a Federal government small enough to drown in a bath tub is too small to aid you when crisis is at your door.   —    kmab]
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No Exemptions

It’s time America realized that there is no gay exemption in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
[Or in the U.S. Constitution…   Although, some would likely wish it in both.    —     kmab]
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Liberty And Justice For Earth

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.  And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
—    Senator Barry Goldwater
[Whenever I hear this quote, I think of “Earth First” and one of their mottos:  “No compromise in the defense of Mother Earth!”  I suppose I’d need to substitute “Earth” for “liberty”, though.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Someone’s Calling
2021	Is There A Devil In There?
	Until I Knew Her
2020	The Other 1%
2019	Where Does This Leave Us?
2018	Or A Small Blue Planet
2017	To Infinity And Beyond
2016	And Some Unawake, Too
	Winds And Reign
2015	Natural Shapes
2014	Seeing The Light
2013	Requirements
2012	Tricked Again
2011	Liberty And Justice For Earth
2010	Home Again, Home Again, Jig-A-De, Jig…

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