Sunday, March 20, 2016

See you in Cleveland

When the demonic clown car of Republican candidates was bursting, i saw some note of British bookies with odds on Romney as the nominee. Recently, Romney has become the leader of the stop Trump movement. Now, there is the 'white horse prophecy' in Mormon lore, which has the country (or Constitution) 'hanging by a thread' and is saved by a Mormon hero. Perhaps this was in people's minds in the last election, but maybe it is in Romney's mind now; whether it will be Romney as the nominee, or Romney as the knight that slays the Donald.

The Donald in his 'shtick' has doubted other candidates' religion*:
  • "I love Iowa. And, look, I don't have to say it, I'm Presbyterian. Can you believe it? Nobody believes I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Presbyterian. Boy, that's down the middle of the road folks, in all fairness. I mean, Seventh-day Adventist, I don't know about. I just don't know about." Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist, and it is one of the major non-christian Protestant cults spawned in America.
  • "Just remember this -- you gotta remember, in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, okay?" The normative religion of all Latin America is Catholicism. Protestant proselytism has been very successful. Cruz's father is a televangelist of a demented sort of restoration and dominion, wherein they are the only heirs of all that is in the world.
  • “I have many friends that live in Salt Lake. I have a lot of friends, I have a lot of friends. By the way, Mitt Romney is not one of them. Did he choke? Did this guy choke? He’s a choke artist, I can’t believe. Are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?” Saying this in Mormon country is not advantageous, and a gentile attacking a king Mormon over his authenticity as a Mormon is ridiculous.

Trump is way ahead, and has always been ahead of this pack. He realises there is a 'stop Trump' movement, but it is too little and too late. To have been effective it would have had to started immediately and go full bore, as the way Miss McConnell did to Ashley Judd. McConnell did not wait for Scalia's corpse to get cold, before he began sabotaging Obama over the Supreme Court. The Republicans began their sabotaging of Obama's presidency the day after his initial election.

"I think we’ll win before getting to the convention, but I can tell you, if we didn’t and if we’re 20 votes short or if we’re, you know, 100 short and we’re at 1,100 and somebody else is at 500 or 400, because we’re way ahead of everybody, I don’t think you can say that we don’t get it automatically. I think you would have riots. I think you would have riots. … I think you would see problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen. I really do. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad things would happen."

Trump is highly reactive. He will not allow a feint go unchallenged. He will have the last word. He has used the old mafioso protectionist trick of using a possible prediction of misfortune for a threat. He just did not sell it as his usual product,"These riots will be yuuuuuge. They will be the best riots ever."

Hey, most of Trump's ideas, protocol, plans, and arguments are the typical brand of Republican fascism we have had for years. It is just not boilerplate. It is delivered in Trump's style. It is seen as crass, or too self-evident by the powers that be.

The last gambit of the establishment is a brokered convention. But the convention in Cleveland will take the line from Shakespeare's Tempest, “Hell is empty and all the devils are here”.

John (Jeb) Bush February 20, 2016
Ben Carson March 2, 2016
Chris Christie February 10, 2016
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz
Carly Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed) February 10, 2016

☒ Jim Gilmore February 12, 2016
Lindsey Graham December 21, 2015
Mike Huckabee February 1, 2016
Piyush (Bobby) Jindal November 17, 2015

☐ John Kasich

☒ George Pataki December 29, 2015
Rand(al) Paul February 3, 2016
Rick Perry  September 11, 2015 oops
Marco Rubio March 15, 2015
Rick Santorum February 3, 2016

☐ Donald Trump
Scott Walker  September 21, 2015

☐ Willard (Mitt) Romney
========================

Lincoln Chafee  October 23, 2015

☐ Hillary Clinton
Lawrence Lessig  November 2, 2015
Martin O'Malley February 1, 2016
☐ Bernie Sanders
Jim Webb  October 20, 2015 

______________________________________
* the candidate that speaks most like a Christian is Bernie Sanders, “the solution is compassion not hatred. Good public policy, not bigotry.”
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeNH1MRIHps

Sunday, March 13, 2016

greyhound passant


The attitude (pose) of the beast above is greyhound passant (striding)

rubber nose—when resting, the nose can crumple or twist into the floor or wall

legs up—greyhounds can sleep with legs in the air (some people liken this to dead roaches)

rooing—generally quiet, they can howl a chorus, and one greyhound will do this at the example of another, whether dog or human initiated; their call is a 'roo'

leaning, nudging, head butting—either to demand attention, or more commonly to show affection. Greyhounds do not normally lick, or jump upon you; they do touch you physically by pressing their bodies against you.

counter surfing—the height of a greyhound allows him to stretch his head onto tables, stoves, and counters. They are curious, and look for food. They are sly, and look for opportunity. Lay a cake on the table, and turn around, and see some of the cake gone. Make a sandwich with four slices of meat, reach for lettuce or a condiment, and there is three slices of meat.

collecting, hiding, gathering—toys and other objects will be brought into the sleeping area

playing out of sight—a toy, or shoe, or something will be played with while you are not around, or looking; when sight is caught of you being a witness, activity stops

sitting—greys' anatomy is not conducive to sitting, they can be taught (grudgingly). Regular sitting has both hams off the ground, i heard a girl call this a 'butt hover'. Some greyhounds can sit longways with hips apart in a sphinx position

eating and digestion—with no other dogs around, the tendency is to hoover up the food; to the point of swallowing air, coughing, choking, yet continuing. The hounds make several noises, but as Adam Savage is fond of saying, 'the flatus' is often silent, or a whisper, but if names were given for mannerisms, Houndie would be 'Foul-fart'.

tongue lolling—some do, some don't. Those that do, look silly and goofy.

smiling—for those that do, some can be open mouth extra wide; some will bare teeth, which would look menacing in other dogs; some will chatter their teeth

ears—they are wonderfully velvety and soft, and very mobile, and be independent from the other. Each ear can be bent, folded inside out, up, back (in other dogs this is a threat, not greyhounds). They can both go in the same direction, or a different direction—randomly. O, and the insides are both tattooed with numbers indicating birth and litter.

zoom time—although not racing, they are born to run, and every once in a while need to let go—zoom, zoom.  At top speed, the ground thunders. Turns are made on a dime, with turf flying.

bow, stretch, shake—mine at least does this often, especially after getting up

propeller—the tail does not just wag side to side, it can go round and round

nonchalance attention focusing—like other dogs, 'o, something moved—wow!'. Then again, i don't care.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

'G' is for Greyhound

It is easy to become enamoured of certain animals. God by nature grants graces. The eye, and then the soul, becomes enchanted. Hounds (i am not using the AKC definition, but the older English canine term) have great genetic elasticity, so that many various body shapes, sizes, and other physical characteristics run a gauntlet on the continuum. We are given the chihuahua, and many mastiffs. The hound is a social animal, that grants hounds and people position within the pack. The signals a dog recognises has him approaching an empath. It is easy, so doggone easy, to be infatuated with a breed.

Recently, i have come into possession of a greyhound, a track discard, an animal sheltered by a rescue organisation. Many people have done same, and still a majority of these dogs are not rescued. I will refrain from an euphemism, they are killed. How many have people have seen a greyhound pup? They are controlled by the industry. They are overbred. A culling comes early, not every whelp is deemed suitable. During training, and racing some are injured and their days are ended. A hound's racing span is not often long, and if not chosen for breeding, they are expendable. It is then death, or adoption.

Some are rescued and become companion animals--pets. They learn a new life. The transition is an healing proposition. A new socialisation occurs. Healthcare changes. Their care is not formed for racing needs. As with other hounds, parasites are an issue: worms, ticks, fleas should be removed. I read again and again, teeth are often in bad shape. Greyhounds scar easily (emotionally too), and bones can be fragile.

As other hounds, certain traits are very common in a particular breed. An Englishman, Rich Skipworth, is a cartoonist with a greyhound; and he has drawn some of the hounds' proclivities. My hound does do some of that, it is as if he did picture him. Other people with greyhounds have developed a descriptive greyhound vocabulary. The greyhound's physiology is not the average hound's. There are related sighthounds that share some physiology. They are lean, narrow, with long backs, longish necks and muzzles, deep chests, high tucks, long tails, long legs    built for the sprint run. 

They are bony, with thin coats, and very little fat. They are not winter animals, and they need a few amenities. They wear clothes in bad weather, and need soft bedding for reclining    and they do recline, to the point they are lazy. But, they are gentle, docile, quiet (some are painfully shy), and low maintenance. Their odd habits become cute and endearing to you. They are also watching you, and can be sly.

They are sleek and chic, beyond that i have noticed walking with my hound is that some people stop and chat, and to my initial surprise, thank me and bless me for getting the animal. I can not remember this sort of random, unsolicited bonhomie directed towards me.

[end part one]

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

can the donald be stopped?

On this journal i wrote on the 4th of January 2012 [click]:
  • in 2012 Obama defeating Romney, Ron Paul may also lead a ticket but not the Republican;
  • in 2016 the usual Republican nominee formula probably becomes meaningless, because that individual is unelectable;
  • in 2016 Democrat somebody beats Republican somebody;
  • if the Republican party does not split by 2016, it may by 2020 if it has not achieved sanity.
  • in 2020 the Democratic incumbent will face competition from a main anti-Democratic party, which will be named __________ [TBA].
Why? Last night, Peggy Noonan and CBS suggest a 'great party' is being disintegrated; but they are talking about the Republican party. Lincoln's long gone. In that essay, i also wrote "Now, the Republican party, and its most fervent followers, are not a normal political party. They are both crazy, and fascist. They have passed the point of sanity into madness."..."The Republican party is not a conservative party. Republicans complain that Romney is not 'conservative'. They have changed the meaning. 'Conservative' is now a form of insanity." "

Trump is a blowhard. Trump is a narcissist. Trump is a salesman, nothing he says is to be believed. He will say anything to make the sale, and delivering on promises is not a concern. Trump's confidence game is absolutely American, the art of the 'con', such as Mark Twain describes in Huck Finn. The Duke and the Dauphin fool people, they separate them from their money in one deceit after another. Yet, he is the best of the Republicans. Canadian Cruz is the worst. 

Now, many of Trump's fervent supporters are mad louts. Hey, these were Sarah Palin's supporters too. A genteel soul would not want to be around one of them when they're liquored up.

The 'vast right wing conspiracy' that Hillary Clinton warned us about, over twenty years ago, created this situation. They are vicious and shameless. They stole elections and put in gwbushjr, who must not be named now. Previously, Newton Gingrich created the evil attitude of only obstructionism or ruthlessness in Congress by Republicans. The false piety as political power was Jerry Falwell's work. Reagan removed the fairness doctrine and mouthfoamers on radio, such as the ilk of Limbaugh, and the machinations of Murdoch and Ailes created the propaganda cesspool of a major television network to manipulate entertainment with false news to create a brainwashed and ardent audience susceptible to ever increasing black propaganda. Many other similar characters added to the sludge. And now the party establishment, "the powers that be", are in a tizzy about the Donald. To-morrow, Willard Romney will speak.


John (Jeb) Bush February 20, 2016
Ben Carson March 2, 2016
Chris Christie February 10, 2016
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz
Carly Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed) February 10, 2016

☒ Jim Gilmore February 12, 2016
Lindsey Graham December 21, 2015
Mike Huckabee February 1, 2016
Piyush (Bobby) Jindal November 17, 2015

☐ John Kasich

☒ George Pataki December 29, 2015
Rand(al) Paul February 3, 2016
Rick Perry  September 11, 2015 oops
☐ Marco Rubio
Rick Santorum February 3, 2016

☐ Donald Trump
Scott Walker  September 21, 2015

========================

Lincoln Chafee  October 23, 2015

☐ Hillary Clinton
Lawrence Lessig  November 2, 2015
Martin O'Malley February 1, 2016
☐ Bernie Sanders
Jim Webb  October 20, 2015

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Hell is empty and all the devils will be here



“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest  I. ii.

There is a push to kiss up to the political occupation that is coming to Cleveland. They want hundreds of volunteers to guide them. Now, think of the moneyed interests they represent, and the locals are requested for free labor to cater them. Propaganda is that this is not a partisan event, but a civic event for the national reputation of Cleveland. Many projects are being undertaken to present both a Potemkin village, and first use for the Republican horde. During their rule, the city will be interrupted and inconvenienced.
 police metal barricades will ring no go areas for the proletariat (screen grab Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Recently the new police enforcement equipment list has become public. The security police state will be commanded by the secret service, and local police will be used as shock troops (if necessary), but mostly a presence to keep things 'in order' so the 'visitors' will not be upset or bothered.

Now, to-day is Super Tuesday and Trump's victories may demand a coronation. Certain Republicans of importance are alarmed by the Donald. The latest issue is a Ku Klux kerfuffle--hey, if racism was not approved of the Republican Party would be a minor item in the southern states. And of course the sabre rattling war fanciers would rather have another ally or pawn of neo-conservatism. All these manipulators would want a brokered convention--opening the hellmouth in Cleveland wider and longer.