caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

I've been writing about Bernie Sanders and his quest for the presidency all year. I've written a lot about it actually because I think this race is so fundamentally different from others in our recent history, and so critically important for our future. As I type these words the 2016 New York Democratic Presidential Primary is just days away. As a citizen of New York State myself, I will soon be casting my own vote for Senator Sanders, a man I believe in strongly.

Bill just doesn’t get it. No one in the Clinton camp seems to understand why so many young people are flocking to Bernie Sanders or how to connect with them in a way that would unify the party in November should Hillary win the nomination. Most of their explanations so far have pegged these supporters as hopelessly naive, unrealistic and idealistic.

Recently Bernie Sanders has been accused of not having a plan for breaking up "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Bernie has a plan. A complete plan. Part of it requires action under the existing Dodd-Frank legislation, the other part is laid out in detail in a pending bill he is sponsoring.

Anything else is a gross distortion.

Juan González: Clinton Has "Really Distorted" What Happened When NY Daily News Interviewed Sanders

Time Magazine Front Covers this ignorant screed from James Grant, noted Inflation Hawk and Gold Bug, that contends that at $42,998.12 per person the United States National Debt is insupportable and a grave threat to our economy.

As everyone should know, the only problem with a National Debt of any amount is not it's sheer magnitude, but the relationship of its size to the National Economy. Not that household metaphors are appropriate (and they really aren't), nobody would think twice about signing a mortgage that represented 3 - 5 years of total income payable in installments over 30 years. How many people do you know that are pulling down $100K annually who don't live in $300K+ houses?

In fact the only negative effect from a debt that is too large is that people (lenders) are less willing to give you loans and charge you more money (interest) to offset the risk that you will default and refuse to pay them back anything at all. A side effect is that higher interest rates can fuel inflation because it raises the cost of capital (which is also measured in interest).

So what do we see?

My mom is a Bernie delegate at the Colorado state convention today. The election day results on March 1st were 58.98% Bernie, 40.31% Hillary. She texted me to say that today's results were 1915 delegates for Bernie and 1129 delegates for Hillary. That's 62% for Bernie! I guess there were a lot a Hillary no-shows who didn't want to drive to Loveland in the spring snowstorm we're having. The delegate allocation to the national convention is 6 for Bernie and 3 for Hillary.

I've written before about my daughter and I, and the undue influence she exerted over my decision to support and vote for Bernie Sanders. In all honesty, though, I probably would have come around to voting for him anyway, but she did speed up the process.

I had to send some of my guys with the cauliflower ears and bent noses over to Cirque du Soleil yesterday to put the kibosh on their plans to present Ovo in Greensboro, NC from April 20 to April 24 and Charlotte July-6-10 and Turok in Raleigh in June.

But let's face it, such highbrow entertainment was too gay for North Carolina anyway.

I'm not really suited for phone banking. No matter how many hours I put in, I feel awkward and stilted and I doubt that any call I have ever made has influenced a vote. I've done a little bit for Bernie's campaign, but it's so painful that I stopped.

Sunday April 16, 1916
From the United Mine Workers Journal: Little Child of the Mines

Remember way back. Long before ISIS was created in American prison camps in Iraq. Remember the guys who lived in caves in Afghanistan and killed roughly 3,000 Americans?
Remember how we were going to crush them?

First a little background to explain the purpose of this diary.

It’s less in the spirit of a Joe Namath-style guarantee than as a call to arms to ramp up your engagement right now.

Yesterday Samer asked, Does Ted Cruz recognize transgender as an identity?.

Samer was concerned about a statement Cruz made:

The Education Department is suing a school to force them to let a teenage boy shower with teenage girls.

It appears to me that Sen. Cruz believes that transgender people are, effectively, confused people in drag or people with a mental illness.

I left a comment:

Of course he doesn’t. None of the religious right does. That’s why they want to legislate us out of existence.

In writing that I violated one of my own guiding principles: avoid speaking or thinking in universals. In reality, I know that there definitely are people from the religious right who are themselves transgender.

Yes, this is a New York specific story, so everyone who does not live in my wonderful state, please bear with me. I know this post may not apply to you, but perhaps it will encourage everyone in states with upcoming primaries to check their voting status.