"Democracy" by Leonard Cohen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEDSRP3yNPo&sns=em

***********************


"Democracy is coming to the USA” is the real Leonard Cohen lyric we should be listening tpo

by Shelagh Huston
November 16, 2016

http://qz.com/838190/leonard-cohens-death-instead-of-hallelujah-democracy-is-the-song-we-should-be-listening-to/

Ordinary words have failed Americans a lot over the last few months. It seems that too often, rational thought and logic have been rejected in favor of fake news arguments and internet troll hysteria.In the midst of this chaos, however, other forms of language are becoming increasingly resonant. As Canadian columnist Elizabeth Renzetti recently said, "Perhaps poetry can shed light where polling data failed." Poets are our prophets now, and songs our strength.One such prophet was Leonard Cohen. This gruffly spoken man slyly and wisely brought his poetry a lot of publicity last week by dying right when we needed to hear him most. His fans have responded by playing "Hallelujah" on repeat and echoing the ironic comfort of his famous line from "Anthem," There is a crack, a crack in everything / That's how the light gets in.But the song we should really be turning to is one from the 1990s: "Democracy."

I'm neither left or right / I'm just staying home tonight / Getting lost in that hopeless little screen.After months of an election campaign that gave us the feel / that this ain't exactly real / or it's real, but it ain't exactly there, and after years of a rising tide of the wars against disorder / the sirens night and day / the fires of the homeless / the ashes of the gay, Leonard Cohen prophesizes:Democracy is coming to the USA.Like so many of us, Cohen cared about the idea of America (I love the country) but was horrified and revolted by what's been happening to it (but I can't stand the scene). He was a Canadian who believed in America's founding principles: It's coming to America first / the cradle of the best and of the worst / it's here they got the range / and the machinery for change / and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
According to Cohen's prophecy, democracy will come not through laws or governments, but through a fresh wind, a hole in the air. Cohen even lists off the folks who, knowingly or not, will be the sources of this change:
from the left-behind workers of the industrial heartland: from the brave, the bold, the battered / heart of Chevrolet
from the protesters like Black Lives Matter: it's coming from the sorrow in the street / the holy places where the races meet
from the Christians: some of whom pretend to understand but do not act on the staggering account / of the Sermon on the Mount
from the feminists who struggle against the patriarchy: 
from the homicidal bitchin'/ that goes down in every kitchen / to determine who will serve and who will eat
from the agony of women, especially the women of the desert lands of the Middle East, fleeing bombs and worse:
from the wells of disappointment / where the women kneel to pray / for the grace of God in the desert here / and the desert far away
At a time when the US is in more danger of foundering than ever before, Cohen's words are the perfect anthem for these times: Sail on, sail on / oh mighty ship of State, we're dreading this voyage, not knowing if we'll we make it to the shores of need / past the reefs of greed / through the squalls of hate.
Poems and songs are full of an intense aliveness that tears open the heart, allowing for a deeper understanding.
Even in the middle of an agonized, despoiled, garbage-strewn landscape, Cohen finds hope: But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags / that time cannot decay / I'm junk, but I'm still holding up / this little wild bouquet: Democracy is coming to the USA.

So, what exactly did Leonard mean by all that? It's too late to ask him now, but if we're all junk, let's be stubborn as garbage bags, and keep on holding up that bouquet of hope for tommorow.

out of the mouths of babes

  FREE KITTENS  

A pretty little girl named Suzy was standing on the sidewalk in front of her home. Next to her was a basket containing a number of tiny creatures; in her hand was a sign announcing FREE KITTENS.

Suddenly a line of big black cars pulled up beside her.  Out of the lead car stepped a tall, grinning man. 
"Hi there, little girl. I'm Donald Trump. What do you have in the basket?" he asked. 

"Kittens," little Suzy said. 
"How old are they?" asked Trump. 
Suzy replied, "They're so young, their eyes aren't even open yet." 
"And what kind of kittens are they?" 
"Republicans," answered Suzy with a smile. 


Trump was delighted. As soon as he returned to his car, he called his PR chief and told him about the little girl and the kittens. Recognizing the perfect photo op, the two men agreed that Trump should return the next day; and in front of the assembled media, have the girl talk about her discerning kittens. 


So, the next day Suzy was again standing on the sidewalk with her basket of "FREE KITTENS," when another motorcade pulled up, this time followed by vans from ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and CNN. Cameras and audio equipment were quickly set up, then Trump got out of his limo and walked over to little Suzy. 


"Hello, again," he said, "I'd love it if you would tell all my friends out there what kind of kittens you're giving away." 
"Yes, sir," Suzy said. "They're Democrats." 
Taken by surprise, Trump stammered, "But...but...yesterday, you told me they were REPUBLICANS." 
Little Suzy smiled and said, "I know.  But today, they have their eyes open." 

Hallelujah: the way of atonement

Grace comes to those who cry out to God in repentance with a ‘cold and a broken Hallelujah'

"Hallelujah"("Various Positions" Version)

(Narrator describing the Fall of David:
His faith is not strong enough to resist temptation.
He is captivated and overpowered by beauty/love)

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
luhah

Maybe I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch but love is not a victory march
it’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah


Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
But it’s not a cry that you hear at night 
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah


I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,


*****************************
King David's plight is an allegory of the human condition.
Who has not been ovepowered by the temptations of the world?!
None of our lives are faultless. We have all fallen ;we are all broken.
We are all in need of redemption,and healing... for the countless times we have not been strong enough.
It is the awareness of our brokenness wch compels us to turn with humility toward God and to cry out for strenght and for forgiveness (atonement).

K.D. Lang gives voice to Leonard Cohen(and to all humanity)--a voice that shines through one of the darkest times in our history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=P_NpxTWbovE&feature=youtube_gdata_player


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Leonard Cohen didn't want to witness what is about to unfold...and made his exit the day after the election!

Come Healing

O gather up the brokenness
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow
The splinters that you carry
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace
O solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind 
O see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart
O troubled dust concealing
An undivided love
The Heart beneath is teaching
To the broken Heart above
O let the heavens falter
And let the earth proclaim:
Come healing of the Altar
Come healing of the Name
O longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O longing of the arteries
To purify the blood 
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

World shocked by Trump victory

Leonard Cohen "You Want It Darker" Audio


The dark horse has gained the leadership of America
The beast has arrived!
The supervillain prevails!
Goodnight America!
Welcome to hell!

Donald Duck(a character out of the entertainment world) wins the Presidency.

Americans choose a bufoon to lead them.

America has elected a leader who the rest of the world considers a fool (and in so doing America has made a fool of itself).

The ramifications of a Trump win are terrifying! Horrendous!This is a nightmare!

The hope of building an inclusive society has been dashed.

The factors that enabled Donald Trump to win the Republican nomination and to win enough votes to win America's presidency  are very much in play in American society.
Trump has exposed the true nature of the Republican base. And what has been brought out into the open cannot be put back into the box!
Donald Trump represents the dark side of America.
Donald Trump has unleashed some very dark forces beneath the surface in America
Half the population has willingly handed over leadership of their country to the least qualified candidate in favour of the most experienced candidate for President.
It is quite possible that a psychopath has just become the most powerful person in the world.
All humanity has had its eyes on this election because we know that what happens in America will affect the entire world.
This result regresses America by 50 years.All the advances made by the Obama administration will be reversed,and the country will be now turned in a backward direction.Trump will have no difficulty executing his regressive agenda because of the Republican majority in the senate and congress.
This election result is a huge setback for all humanity.
Intolerance,bigotry,racism,misogyny,etc.--have won the day!
Now all the snakes and crazies will feel legitimized and will find the courage to slither out of the shadows!

the poison of conservative ideology

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57b65402e4b029a9a4652ab1

Unbalanced: How Right-Wing Media Destroys Democracy

Samuel C. Spitale Los Angeles-based journalist, storyteller, and humorist



Last night I watched the documentary "The Brainwashing of My Dad", about a family man’s rightwing radicalization.
The filmmaker traces her father’s descent from a free-loving personality to an angry, embittered devotee of conservative media out of touch with reality.The film paints a clear picture of just how damaging the ubiquity and ferocity of conservative doctrine can be. It poisons the public in ways they aren’t aware of, and I’ve seen this evolution firsthand. Growing up in Louisiana, a state with conservative values tempered by the creative culture – and good humor – of New Orleans, I have lived in California now for over a decade.When I return home and catch up with friends from around the state, I repeatedly hear the same erroneous talking points promoted by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, even by those who don’t watch the news or listen to talk radio.When exactly did freedom of information come to mean dissemination of disinformation?Regardless of the age or generation, the statements are always the same – grossly inaccurate but repeatedly told with such vigor their veracity goes unquestioned, especially when it reinforces negative racial stereotypes.The tragedy is no longer that these educated individuals are unable to differentiate between fact and myth, or that they are misinformed on so many basic domestic issues.Rather, it’s the fact that it’s become perfectly normal – legal even – for a private entity to distort, manipulate, mislead, and flat out lie under the auspices of so-called “fair and balanced” “news.”The tragedy is that our leaders, keenly aware of the deception and how it sows division amongst the people, allow the outrage industry to craft such hate speech in the first place. It undermines our democracy, compromises our moral integrity, and threatens our future stability. It encourages anti-intellectualism, discrimination, and fear mongering simply because it’s good business.This is little more than mass indoctrination, a term referring to the teaching of a specific policy or position at the exclusivity of others. It is no secret this is how Fox News was conceived, but since it’s not covered on Fox News, most people are unaware.
Former Republican hit man David Brock confesses in The Republican Noise Machine that he onceforwarded the rightwing agenda, not as an open political operative or advocate, but under the guise of journalism and punditry fueled by huge sums of money from rightwing billionaires, foundations and self-interested corporations.It is also no secret why Roger Ailes was hired
to spearhead this venture:Ailes entered politics working for Richard Nixon, showing the campaign how to present paid political events so that they would appear to be news, in order to manipulate public opinion...
At Fox, Ailes has ushered in the era of post-truth politics. The facts no longer matter; only what is politically expedient, sensationalistic, and designed to confirm the preexisting opinions of a large audience.Ailes was never hired because he was a newsman, he was recruited solely based on his Republican affiliation in order for a rightwing news agency to promote their conservative, pro-business agenda, unrepresented by actual journalism, explains Ian Haney Lopez in Dog Whistle Politics.Thus: Fox News doesn’t hire journalists. They want proselytizers.Proselytizers disseminate the Kool-Aid in order to convert, and they use outright deception to do so.“Saying something you know to be untrue, or have no basis for believing is true, is not journalism,“ explains David Brock in The Fox Effect. “It is propaganda.”In other words, lies used to manipulate. Brock wrote:More problematic, once these lies take hold, no amount of fact checking by Media Matters or websites such as Politifact or FactCheck.Org will ever convince the segment of the population that is predisposed to believe them ... Fox…claims to be a fair and balanced news network while brazenly broadcasting demonstrable lies and distortions, always with a conservative spin. It is critical that the media, Democrats, opinion makers of all stripes, and the public at large understand what Fox News is. Too many reporters and commentators have continued to treat Fox as a news organization. By doing so, they enable the network to conduct a political campaign under the guise of a media outlet, influencing the outcome of legislative debates and elections. It is all the more important to keep an eye on Fox because the rhetoric the network wields as a political weapon is filled with violent imagery and demonization. This is never a good practice, particularly at a time of economic instability when social unrest and passions are high.When exactly did freedom of information come to mean dissemination of disinformation?When corporate conservatives targeted the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that required media outlets to be accountable and represent all points of view.The doctrine was problematic because it worked.You can’t manipulate the masses by showing all viewpoints. Thus, conservatives saw to its abolition, which may prove to be a far greater detriment to a free society than the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that led to the financial crisis.Propaganda threatens truth. It halts progress. It corrupts justice.It’s obvious to quantify the damage of financial deregulation, as we all feel its effects, from our 401Ks, to dwindling wages, to home foreclosures.The result is tangible.But the demise of the Fairness Doctrine is visceral – an insidious cancer that has gone undiagnosed for so long it may be incapable of remission.The indoctrination of an unsuspecting public, who rely on the media to inform, instead has been dangerously incensed.The rise in abusive rhetoric, social media bullying, aggressive demonstrations, protests that erupt in violence, and presidential candidates calling for acts of uncivil disobedience can all be directly attributed to the incendiary vitriol of two decades of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.While pursuing my college degrees in a school of Journalism, one founding principle of the press, besides the importance of government accountability, was repeated almost on a daily basis:“The news should not tell us what to think, but what to think about.”Now, after a quick Google search, I am dumbfounded to discover the proper quotation can hardly be found in cyberspace. Indeed, the rightwing media has destroyed both tenets of this code. There’s not a single talking head on Fox who doesn’t tell you what to think – their opinion reiterated, reinforced and spoken with such outright indignation and authority, the average consumer isn’t aware of the manipulation.We cannot begin to solve our problems if institutions ensure we don’t have the right conversations.And consumers are exactly what we’ve become because propaganda is sold - it takes a seller and a buyer. It ignites our emotions; it angers and exploits. And unfortunately, even when it tells us what to think about, it has now fabricated the issues, creating a crisis not unlike a TV writer during sweeps. Remember such contrived issues as Planned Parenthood, Acorn, death panels, and climate denial?Propaganda threatens truth. It halts progress. It corrupts justice.We cannot begin to solve our problems if institutions ensure we don’t have the right conversations.Thus, the decline of truth is a harbinger for the decline of a civilization.According to Fairleigh Dickinson University’s 2012 PublicMind survey, researchers found that someone who watched only Fox News was less informed on both national and international news than those who watched no news at all. Those who listened to NPR were the most informed.This is a sign of voter deception, of political pandering, and a lack of respect for education, information, science and the public good.It’s a disgrace on a global scale, and it reinforces a growing international sentiment left over from the Bush years – that the U.S. has become an idiocracy, a nation of idiots run by idiots.We should all be worried about a generation growing up who many no longer be able to differentiate fact and fiction – a harbinger indeed of our departure from the global stage.The last modern-era truth tellers, free of spin, have had to seek refuge on Comedy Central, via The Daily Show and similar vehicles.Yesterday’s journalists have become today’s comedy writers.Too bad when traveling around the country, the most commonly-found news station on public TV sets is Fox News, be it at the airport, a doctor’s office, or my former journalism building. Even my parents’ own basic cable on the Gulf Coast includes Fox News, but no Comedy Central. So much for fact checking the nightly news while home for the holidays.If Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite were entering the field of communication today, they’d likely transition to social satirists at HBO – pleading truths no longer deemed profitable for national news.We should all be worried about a generation growing up who many no longer be able to differentiate fact and fiction – a harbinger indeed of our departure from the global stage. (Just ask Christiane Amanpour.)
Watching how the fake furor of Fox News wreaks havoc on American society, from Tea Party tirades to Obamacare outrage, to the authoritarian rise of Donald Trump, I can’t help but recall a scene from George Lucas’ last Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith: Natalie Portman watches the Senate deliberately vote against their best interest, misled by their leadership. Coming to terms with the repercussions of such irrationality, she turns to Jimmy Smits and regretfully sighs: “So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.”
So much for democracy.
But at least we’ll be too misinformed to notice.

So, who's un-American now!?

Remarks by  President Obama After Counter-ISIL Meeting,  June 14, 2016
> https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/14/remarks-president-after-counter-isil-meeting
>
> ..."For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase “radical Islam.” That’s the key, they tell us -- we can’t beat ISIL unless we call them “radical Islamists.”
> What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?
> The answer is none of the above.
> Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away.
> This is a political distraction.
> Since before I was President, I’ve been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world’s great religions.There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didn’t use the label "radical Islam." Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once. So if someone seriously thinks that we don’t know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield. If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al Qaeda in the FATA, for example --including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is.
> So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is.So there’s no magic to the phrase “radical Islam.” It’s a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. That’s their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion -- then we’re doing the terrorists' work for them.
> Now, up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just been partisan rhetoric. And, sadly, we've all become accustomed to that kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these extremist groups. And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs, from sacrificing and working really hard to protect the American people. But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be. We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests that entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer -- they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? We’ve heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It won’t make us more safe; it will make us less safe -- fueling ISIL’s notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like they're government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for. We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear -- and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history. This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our Founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect -- the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties -- the very things that make this country great; the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen.Two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force Academy. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country. And part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these cadets. We saw cadets, who are straight, applauding classmates who were openly gay. We saw cadets, born here in America, applauding classmates who are immigrants and love this country so much they decided they wanted to be part of our armed forces. We saw cadets and families of all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line to protect you and to protect me. We saw male cadets applauding for female classmates, who can now serve in combat positions. That’s the American military. That’s America -- one team, one nation. Those are the values that ISIL is trying to destroy, and we shouldn’t help them do it.Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are treating everybody fairly -- that we’re not judging people on the basis of what faith they are or what race they are, or what ethnicity they are, or what their sexual orientation is --that’s what makes this country great. That’s the spirit we see in Orlando. That’s the unity and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. That’s what will preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. That’s how we’re going to defend this nation, and that’s how we’re going to defend our way of life. Thank you very much."
>
> **************
> Obama on Orlanda nightclub shooting:
>
> "...this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American -- regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation -- is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country.
> And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans."
>
> https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/06/12/president-obama-tragic-shooting-orlando
>
> "We stand together in unity and solidarity against bigotry and hatred against all minorities.
> Diversity is an important value in our society.We share the ideal that we are all equal.
> Since the founding of our nation we have pursued the never- ending quest to ensure those words ring true for every single American.  
> We are a nation of immigrants. Thats who we are!"
> We have all come from somewhere else.
>
>
> “It is my firm belief that immigration is not something to fear,”
> . “We don't have to wall ourselves off from those who may not look like us right now or pray like we do or have a different last name. … What makes us Americans [is] our shared commitment to an ideal that all of us are created equal, all of us have a chance to make of our lives what we will."-
> -Borack Obama
>
> Hilary Clinton has appeared more in tune with patriotic American values than Trump, whose proposed ban on Muslim immigration and incendiary tweets and speeches are striking large numbers of Americans as unconstitutional, unwise,uncharitable,regressive,  and unAmerican.
> What kind of America will we choose to become?
The choice of leader in America is extremely crucial not just for America but for all humanity.
>

America chooses a leader

Fasten your seat belts...;America is going to hell...and could drag the rest of the world down with it!

The world is only one election away from madness,pandemonium,and chaos!

U.S Republican presidential candidates debase the electoral process by stooping to unprecedented vulgarity and personal attacks
in pursuit of power.

Debate about policy issues degenerates into name-calling and negative attacks

These guys are not worthy to be leaders of a street gang, ...let alone leader of the most powerful country on the planet!

To call their behavior "childish" is to insult all children.

Kasich is the only one among this group who has shown any leadership potential! He has the most experience and the best track record,...and is the most moderate!
john kasich is level-headed;
he has the maturity,the temperament,and the character to be president!

"I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land" -- john kasich

The people who are voting for Donald Trump are not smart enuf to realize that they are being bamboozled.("I love the poorly educated!") Trump is a narcissistic marketing genius who has betrayed everyone he's partnered with. He is policy thin and knowledge thin, and has no substantive solutions. With Trump its not about ideology or principle (he's flexible /facts don't matter/he'll say whatever you want to hear/he is utterly unprincipled)..;it's about winning at all cost!

Not only is Donald Trump bad for America,he is bad for the planet! The whole world recoils at the prospect that Donald Trump might become commander-in-chief of the world's most powerful country. This guy is a horrible human being! Don't put the power of America in this man's control!


Donald Trump has been described as an extremist, wingnut,egomaniac,mentally deranged.
Donald Trump aint no savior!



"Trump: The Deals and the Downfall"
-- Wayne Barrett



the Fifth Estate: "the Fire Breather"

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/m/episodes/2015-2016/the-fire-breather-the-rise-and-rage-of-donald-trump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3B4lgV1IxQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Physicists announce the detection of "gravitational waves" for the first time

Today physicists report detecting gravitational waves for the first time!

Although Einstein's Theory of Relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves, they have thus far not been observed or measured.

The ability to detect gravitational waves opens a new astronomical window on the universe.
We can now see "whats happening out there" through the lense of gravitational waves.
It enables observation of previously
unobservable/ invisible/dark realms of the universe. A "gravitational wave" telescope now possible

http://news.yahoo.com/einsteins-gravitational-waves-detected-scientific-milestone-153535473.html

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/11/gravitational-waves-discovery-hailed-as-breakthrough-of-the-century

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html?referer= http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t& source=web&cd=10&rct=j&q= gravitational%20waves&ved=0ahUKEwjq-_Lbx_ DKAhUHoZQKHQtmBSwQFghBMAk&url= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com% 2F2016%2F02%2F12%2Fscience%2Fligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html&usg=AFQjCNGkTfN_ hiow0Wxaliv2RAVU9Ys-Wg



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Most of "what is" is not visible to the senses.
Our knowledge of the universe is limited by our senses (our ability to perceive).

    It has taken 400 years since the invention of the telescope for us to directly detect other planetary systems; i.e.to see planets around other stars.
    There is only a very tiny segment of reality that we can access/perceive through our unaided senses;i.e. that we can see,hear, and touch.
   We mistakenly assume that what we can see with our senses is all that there is.
    But in actuality what we are able to detect with our senses is to the whole of reality like a drop is to the ocean.
   Our knowledge of the universe will continuosly expand through the development of sensing instruments of ever-increasing resolution. Such instruments allow us to transcend the limitations inherent in our biological senses. But even the expanded reality that we can apprehend through the use of instruments is only a very tiny segment of the total reality.
We do not know how much of total reality is unobservable to us.

We call this invisible portion of reality "dark matter/energy"!

All the colours of the world are in me.

Colours
Kira Willey

I am green today
I chirp with joy like a cricket song.
I am grey today
Gloomy and down like a morning fog.
I am orange today
Loud and messy like finger paint on the wall.
I am red today
Hopping mad like a playground ball.
I am black today
Strong and tall a great big bear.
I am purple today
Bright and happy like a butterfly in the air.

I'm a rainbow today
All the colours of the world.
I'm a rainbow today
All the colours of the world.
I'm a rainbow today
All the colours of the world are in me.

I am yellow today
I shine my light out like the sun.
I am white today
Soft and quite like new snow.
I am blue today
Calm as glass and cool like the sea.

I'm a rainbow today
All the colours of the world.
I'm a rainbow today
All the colours of the world.
I'm a rainbow today
All the colours of the world are in me.
All the colours of the world are in me.

no peace without justice

Ending Blowback Terrorism

JEFFREY D. SACHS

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development, Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is also Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals. His books include The End of Poverty, Co… 

Painful as it is to admit, the West, especially the United States, bears significant responsibility for creating the conditions in which ISIS has flourished. Only a change in US and European foreign policy vis-à-vis the Middle East can reduce the risk of further terrorism.The recent attacks should be understood as "blowback terrorism": a dreadful unintended result of repeated US and European covert and overt military actions throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia that aimed to overthrow governments and install regimes compliant with Western interests. These operations have not only destabilized the targeted regions, causing great suffering; they have also put populations in the US, the European Union, Russia, and the Middle East at significant risk of terror.The public has never really been told the true history of Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Starting in 1979, the CIA mobilized, recruited, trained, and armed Sunni young men to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The CIA recruited widely from Muslim populations (including in Europe) to form the Mujahideen, a multinational Sunni fighting force mobilized to oust the Soviet infidel from Afghanistan.Bin Laden, from a wealthy Saudi family, was brought in to help lead and co-finance the operation. This was typical of CIA operations: relying on improvised funding through a wealthy Saudi family and proceeds from local smuggling and the narcotics trade.By promoting the core vision of a jihad to defend the lands of Islam (Dar al-Islam) from outsiders, the CIA produced a hardened fighting force of thousands of young men displaced from their homes and stoked for battle. It is this initial fighting force – and the ideology that motivated it – that today still forms the basis of the Sunni jihadist insurgencies, including ISIS. While the jihadists' original target was the Soviet Union, today the "infidel" includes the US, Europe (notably France and the United Kingdom), and Russia.At the end of the 1980s, with the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan, some elements of the Mujahideen morphed into Al Qaeda, Arabic for "the base," which referred to the military facilities and training grounds in Afghanistan built for the Mujahideen by bin Laden and the CIA. After the Soviet withdrawal, the term Al Qaeda shifted meaning from the specific military base to the organizational base of jihadist activities.Blowback against the US began in 1990 with the first Gulf War, when the US created and expanded its military bases in the Dar al-Islam, most notably in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam's founding and holiest sites. This expanded US military presence was anathema to the core jihadist ideology that the CIA had done so much to foster.America's unprovoked war on Iraq in 2003 unleashed the demons. Not only was the war itself launched on the basis of CIA lies; it also aimed to create a Shia-led regime subservient to the US and anathema to the Sunni jihadists and the many more Sunni Iraqis who were ready to take up arms. More recently, the US, France, and the UK toppled Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya, and the US worked with the Egyptian generals who ousted the elected Muslim Brotherhood government. In Syria, following President Bashar al-Assad's violent suppression of peaceful public protests in 2011, the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other regional allies helped to foment a military insurgency that has pushed the country into a downward spiral of chaos and violence.Such operations have failed – repeatedly and frequently disastrously – to produce legitimate governments or even rudimentary stability. On the contrary, by upending established, albeit authoritarian, governments in Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and destabilizing Sudan and other parts of Africa deemed hostile to the West, they have done much to fuel chaos, bloodshed, and civil war. It is this turmoil that has enabled ISIS to capture and defend territory in Syria, Iraq, and parts of North Africa.
Three steps are needed to defeat ISIS and other violent jihadists. First, US President Barack Obama should pull the plug on CIA covert operations. The use of the CIA as a secret army of destabilization has a long, tragic history of failure, all hidden from public view under the agency's cloak of secrecy. Ending CIA-caused mayhem would go far to staunch the instability, violence, and anti-Western hatred that fuels today's terrorism.
Second, the US, Russia, and the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council should immediately stop their infighting and establish a framework for Syrian peace. They have a shared and urgent stake in confronting ISIS; all are victims of the terror. Moreover, military action against ISIS can succeed only with the legitimacy and backing of the UN Security Council.The UN framework should include an immediate end to the insurgency against Assad that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have pursued; a Syrian cease-fire; a UN-mandated military force to confront ISIS; and a political transition in Syria dictated not by the US, but by a UN consensus to support a non-violent political reconstruction.
Finally, the long-term solution to regional instability lies in sustainable development. The entire Middle East is beset not only by wars but also by deepening development failures: intensifying fresh water stress, desertification, high youth unemployment, poor educational systems, and other serious blockages.
More wars – especially CIA-backed, Western-led wars – will solve nothing. By contrast, a surge of investment in education, health, renewable energy, agriculture, and infrastructure, financed both from within the region and globally, is the real key to building a more stable future for the Middle East and the world.