Planet A of the Humans

Donal

“I wanna decide who lives and who dies.” Crow T Robot

In the late 1980s, I took a very smart woman to Michael Moore’s film, Roger and Me, showing at a small theatre in NW Washington DC. As the lights came up, we found that Moore had been watching along with us. He was friendly and accessible, explaining that he wanted to see the audience’s reaction to different scenes. I’ve seen almost all of Moore’s subsequent films.

I recently watched Planet of the Humans, which has become controversial for its accusations that environmental groups and CleanTech businesses are promoting ‘green’ industries that promise a renewable future but actually exacerbate energy depletion and climate change. On Earth Day, the film was posted for free on youtube, and will be available for a month. Jeff Gibbs is credited as writer, director and producer, and Ozzie Zehner was a producer, while Moore’s…

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Symptoms

Donal

Almost four year ago, I wrote Clinton vs Trump, in which I considered both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to be very weak candidates for President in an open field. I wrote then, “After a spirited primary season, it comes down to an establishment neoliberal candidate and a populist moderate candidate, both of whom are widely disliked and distrusted outside of their loyal core.” Clinton carried the popular vote, but failed to win the electoral college, failing to inspire rural voters in supposedly “blue wall” states Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Some pundits claim she hadn’t even campaigned in Wisconsin because she took it for granted.

Once again, Bernie Sanders ran an inspiring campaign but currently trails an uninspiring establishment neoliberal candidate, in this case his “good friend” Joe Biden. Sanders devotees are again stunned, again feel cheated (denial) and accuse Bernie of being too nice to rivals…

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That Time I Made it Into Huffington Post

I thought you would all enjoy this from Romona.

Constant Commoner

Ed and Mona – Together for more than 63 years

I know it’s awful to stay away for so long, only to come back to brag. But here I am and I came back to brag.

I sold a piece to Huffington Post Personals! (Key word: sold) This is how it happened, for those of you who are writers and are wondering how these things happen, and for those of you who are just curious, or for those of you who think my writing stinks and you want to get over there to see what the hell they saw in it.

My husband and I celebrated our 63rd anniversary this year, and it seemed like a pretty big deal, at least to us. (Nobody else seemed to notice, but I chalk it up to having had so many they’re getting bored with that whole rah rah thing.)…

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On Losing Three Trees in a Blizzard

(Sung to the tune of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now”)

I can see clearly now the trees are gone
I can see all the snow still on my roadway
Gone are the gorgeous pines that blocked my view
Gonna be a bright, bright front lawn someday

Rob wanted all those trees down years ago
I told him, “Oh no, honey, it’s privacy!”
Gone are those gorgeous pines that blocked our view
Gonna be a bright, bright front lawn I see

Look straight ahead, I can now see 590
Look all around, I can see blue skies!
My lawn will be dry…dry…

I can see clearly now the trees are gone
Thanks to my neighbor they have all disappeared
Got lots of pine if someone wants it now
Gonna have a bright, bright front lawn this year!

On Being Honest

I’ve pulled some real doozies in my lifetime, where I was afraid to go home to my Mom and say, “Mom, I screwed up.”

But, eventually, when I’ve screwed up, I’ve had to go to my Mom and say, “Mom, I screwed up.”

It was painful, but she was always there to help me get through it, and she hugged me, and she loves me to this day.

I think it’s time some politicians, both former and current, come home and say, “Mom, I screwed up.”

I have no poker face, and I really suck at lying. So it really sticks in my craw when I see a paid politician stand in front of a television camera and lie to the American people.

If I can’t even lie to my own mother, why in hell should I pay for an elected official to do so?

A Suggestion to U.S. School Boards

I’m hesitant to speak out about the Florida school shooting, especially since I haven’t read every news account, but, I’d like to make a suggestion to school boards across the US. I suggest that if a student is found to have concerning posts on social media and/or threatening encounters with other students or teachers, rather than simply expelling the student, please consider offering that student free counseling by a valid psychologist. Give that student an opportunity to work out their feelings with someone who is qualified and offers a confidential setting. It would be a small expense that could save many lives.

Tennys Court

Donal

As a fan, I have been following the Australian Open (AO) tennis championships, which feature both women and men players. That seems to mean I’m old.

According to a 2016 study of sports leagues, the average age of the ATP’s television audience is 61, fourth highest of all major sports. The WTA fares better; its average viewer age was 55, and the age of its audience decreased between 2006 and 2016.

I actually prefer watching the WTA, but I’m still older than the demographic they want.

After some lean decades, the AO moved from the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club to Flinders Park (now called Melbourne Park)  and has blossomed into equal standing with Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Its main stadiums are named Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena and Margaret Court Arena.

In the weeks leading up to the AO, there was a lot of media chatter about…

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Nice Try, Shep

I was told two years ago that “this story was de-bunked by the New York Times.” And it was, then.

However, we’ve only just these past few weeks discovered that the FBI was following several attempts by Russian operatives to seek friendships into the Clinton campaign of 2008, and at least one spy was able to follow the Clintons to DC when Hillary became Secretary of State…

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/356630-fbi-watched-then-acted-as-russian-spy-moved-closer-to-hillary

We also learned that Russians were bribing and racketeering their way into a company in the Midwest that mined and trucked uranium.

There is an FBI agent who was put under gag order by the DOJ under Obama who is now willing to speak about it his findings on all of this. CNN covered it here:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/26/politics/doj-fbi-informant-uranium-congress/index.html

I suppose this wouldn’t be such a big deal except that the FBI, then under Mueller, covered up* the investigation and let the uranium sale go through, pretty much.

*Updated comment: Mueller, I am sure, did not simply “cover up” the investigation, but my understanding is that many members of Congress, at the time, were not aware of the investigation at all, although they were members of the bodies that make up CFIUS, which collectively approved the Uranium One deal.

But, nice try, Shep.

 

Living History

When I was a kid, my favorite time of the year was summer. My second favorite time of the year was fall.

In the summer and at Thanksgiving, I was lucky enough to go on road trips with my family, to visit Vermont, New Hampshire, and Virginia.

I got to see my beloved cousins and enjoy the great outdoors while camping and visiting resorts, thanks to our grandfather.

One of our trips was to Manassas Battlefield when I was pretty young. I remember there being a lot of walking, and a lot of bugs.

Whenever we all, as a family, got to one of the monuments at Manassas, I just wanted to rest. But the joy of pushing a button on an interactive display kept me going. I push the button, and someone speaks!

When I pushed the button, a tired voice would come out of the monument, a tired man tired of battles would speak to me, and tell me to turn my head and look around at the ground on which he fought. He’d tell me exactly what he saw, that day, that time, way back when. He’d tell me what hardships he went through, and how doubtful he was about his chances to survive.

Living history.

I would hate to see the day that any of us Americans turn our back on history, no matter how much we might not like it.

I would hate to see the day when we silence the voices of those who walked this earth before we did.

I would hate to stop learning and trying to seek answers, when that should be our sole purpose here on earth.

Holy Fucking Christ, Hillary

Just last night, I was reading about your book tour comments in Great Britain, the UK, whatever we call it these days.  And I thought to myself, not for the first time, someone should stifle your driveling mouth and gag you and stuff you into the closet where your server used to reside.  And I thought to myself, shouldn’t this woman just fall down the stairs into the irrelevancy that she deserves?

And you fell down the fucking stairs.

But you got back up again.

Oy.

Just shut the fuck up, already, woman.

No where, ever, on earth, has there ever been a louder complainant than you, who lost an election.

Mitt Romney is a goddamn angel compared to you, in real liberal time.

You are louder than Trump, and he’s president.

Don’t you realize that every time you open your mouth you are hurting your party and your so-called cause?

No, of course you don’t.

You had to write a goddamn book, “What Happened.”

The title itself is a fucking joke.

What happened is that ever since you got fired from the Watergate hearings, you’ve been a running joke of everything that is wrong with entitlement.  Never mind everything that happened in Arkansas, never mind that your party is as corrupt as Harvey Weinstein’s casting couch, never mind that you’ve done nothing but ride the coattails of your dirty-minded husband and carpetbagged your way into every position you could attain.

If you had any decency at all, you’d leave public life and give us all a break.

But.You.Just.Can’t…..and won’t.

You ask for the shit you get in the press.  Good people could be taking your place, but you take up their oxygen, and don’t have the decency to apologize for it, nor get out of their fucking way.

Shame on you, woman.  Shame on you and your sex-crazed husband and your lunatic fringe friends.

\rant off