Comment

Comment by Grinning Cat on April 2, 2013 at 9:59am

Republican liberals like Cindy McCain are promoting a new survey, "How Do YOU View the Republican Party", aimed at under-30s.

John Aravosis parses it at AmericaBLOG, pointing out, "You know the Republicans are panicking when they ask their members if they should still be opposed to gay marriage, abortion, and marijuana."

A few points of interest:

In the list of "Which issue(s) do you consider when you vote", they include "gay marriage/gay rights", abortion, and the environment, but not the old reliable "immigration" or "family values".

In "Do you think that the Republican Party discriminates against people?" the list includes "environmentalists" and "gays and lesbians".

There's also a free-response question, "What would a Republican have to do or say in order for you to vote for her/him?" Maybe we should let them know.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8PXHD8Y

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 2, 2013 at 2:38am

The Global Economy on the Fly - Nouriel Roubini

"In sum, among advanced economies, the US is in the best relative shape, followed by Japan, where Abenomics is boosting confidence. The eurozone and the UK remain mired in recessions made worse by tight monetary and fiscal policies. Among emerging economies, China could face a hard landing by late 2014 if critical structural reforms are postponed, and the other BRICs need to turn away from state capitalism. While other emerging markets in Asia and Latin America are showing more dynamism than the BRICs, their strength will not be enough to turn the global tide."

~ Nouriel Roubini, April 1st, 2013

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 30, 2013 at 2:20pm

P4 = Possible>Probable>Preferable>Plausible>

Birth + P4 > death. 

If one is born into a toxic family in a toxic community in a toxic world he and she face challenges and choices that define one as an individual. 

Tom, to be honest, that little 10 year old girl is my daughter, now 49, and her father, my former husband, was an abuser. 

I was born into an abusive home, I made a choice in a husband, probably because of his controlling nature. The toxic nature of our lives, until she showed me the way out, transformed each one of us. I, from being a battered wife; she from being a battered child. 

That is what I mean by being. 

By forcing change, by taking risks, by refusing to follow the traditions of my family and community, I broke the chains of abuse in our home and set examples for my children and my family. I revealed my family and my religion bound my mind in ways to  replicate a toxicity. 

That challenge required ability to work, to belong, to think and to transcend patterns of old ways of being into new ways. 

Comment by Dogly on March 29, 2013 at 7:51am

Joan, I like that statement, too.  I'd just transpose the last two words.

Comment by Tom Sarbeck on March 29, 2013 at 6:00am

JOAN, NO!

Not being with the abuse; being with herself.

I'm amazed. Who gave her what it took to do what she did?

I was amazed like that about 20 years when my youngest brother, then about 50, told me what he'd done when he was about 15 and I was away finishing college. He told me our dad made noises like he was going to hit my brother. My brother told him, "You hit me and I'll hit you back!"

When I was 15 my dad was too strong for me to take on in a fist fight or any other kind of fight. I had to swallow my anger. It came out years later when I was doing politics in Arizona. My dad was still alive but too old and frail to give me any satisfaction. I now laugh when I say I took on Arizona's most powerful politicians. One of them gave me a compliment: he tried to get me fired from my job, and failed.

I didn't understand your "being" remark as being with the abuse. Did you mean it that way?

I understood it as being with one's self.

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 29, 2013 at 12:25am

Tom, about bullying. I understand what you mean by avoiding idealism and cynicism. Your example of an attorney stepping between a bully and another illustrates it well. He was able to end the confrontation with a simple, "I am his attorney!" That would stop a lot of such events taking place. It would be a good line if one could get away with it. In a way, that is what I talked about in this last piece. The attorney knew he had power because he knew law and human nature. That confidence makes others take note without violence. 

Let us take another scenario. A ten year old girl made a diorama for a school competition. It was cardboard box with one side cut away and an Indian village was created inside the box. Sand created hills, sticks were trees, a mirror was a lake. She won first place in her school competition and was to go to the county fair with her village. There were grasses in the box with seeds. Living in Texas, if she had brought the box into the house, those awful beetles would start hatching. After a conference it was decided the safest, best place was in the tool shed on top of the insecticides. Her father, a full colonel at that time, came home from work, saw the diorama in the shed, threw it to the driveway and stomped it to pieces. 
The little ten year old girl stood before him, her hands on her hips, her nose just level with his bronze belt buckle, and she said, "You don't have a right to treatment me this way."

This is what I mean by courage! This little girl, so tiny, so sure of herself that she wouldn't remain quiet or passive in the face of a bully. She was firm, confident, and determined. Can a child be trained to take command, especially when a child is being bullied by a parent, teacher, sibling or school mate? 

I like the thought of "just being"! However, life presents tough challenges of abuse of all kinds. Just being with abuse is not an answer. It fosters fear, depression, anxiety and rewards violence. 

Yes, I would like an ideal world where each individual gives and receives respect. Respect does not come as a gift; it has to be earned. To love unconditionally is an idea that bares bitter fruit in the presence of domination/submission. 

I very much respect your question and it deserves further thought. 

Comment by Tom Sarbeck on March 28, 2013 at 11:46pm

Avoid idealism and cynicism and just be.

Joan, you wrote something like a few posts ago. I liked it and it stuck in my mind.

I had earlier put realism between idealism and cynicism, and came to see that people who can just be have more power to change things than idealists, cynics, or people who claim to be realists.

Have you given any thought to what just being requires?

I have, and recalled an event. A retired attorney I met a few years ago, often had lunch with, and got to know had what it took to just be. I saw him dispose of a bullying incident by calmly stepping between bullies and their intended victim. No noisy demand; just "I'm his attorney."

Without the details, which would take a while to describe, the bullies (state employees) backed off and a written policy change resulted.

The calmness requires some self confidence (personal power) and a few more things.

What?

I'm working on it. What are your thoughts?

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 28, 2013 at 10:25pm

MARC FABER: Not Even Gold Will Save You From What Is Coming

Bubbles and bubbles and bubbles; bubbles always bust!

"When you print money, the money does not flow evenly into the economic system. It stays essentially in the financial service industry and among people that have access to these funds, mostly well-to-do people. It does not go to the worker. I just mentioned that it doesn't flow evenly into the system.

"Now from time to time it will lift the NASDAQ like between 1997 and March 2000. Then it lifted home prices in the U.S. until 2007. Then it lifted the commodity prices in 2008 until July 2008 when the global economy was already in recession. More recently it has lifted selected emerging economies, stock markets in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, up four times from 2009 lows and now the U.S.

"So we are creating bubbles and bubbles and bubbles. This bubble will come to an end. My concern is that we are going to have a systemic crisis where it is going to be very difficult to hide. Even in gold, it will be difficult to hide."

~ MARC FABER, Mar. 27, 2013 

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 28, 2013 at 10:11pm

You Have the Right to Remain Silent: The United Police States of Am...

"the top law enforcement official in the country, Attorney General Eric Holder, just told Congress that he had no intention of seeking criminal indictments against the nation’s top bankers, despite a wide-spread conviction that they are all guilty of the most massive fraud and theft in the history of the country, because he says such prosecutions could “destabilize” the nation’s financial system. So the banksters skate while Willie James Sauls rots in prison the rest of his life.

Welcome to the United Police States of America."

~ Dave Lindorff, March 28, 2013

Comment by Joan Denoo on March 28, 2013 at 10:05pm

Get Your Money Out of the Banks

Do you remember that outrageous plan in Cyprus last week to take funds out of all bank accounts, which meant take the savings of working class people so they would not disturb the bankrupt nation? Well, here is a cautionary tale that will have feet unless wage earners refuse to allow such thefts to happen. 

I am very sorry to say this is not an early April Fools joke. 

Option 1 sit and wait to see what happens. 

Option 2 check to see if your bank funds are secure with guarantees. 

Option 3 Make a lot of noise before IMF 

Option 4 I don't have any idea what is a wise decisions, talk to others. 

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