I NEEDED THIS!!!!!

We moved to Texas in 1979 as two young, newly married people. We never regretted that move and even though we later moved to Florida to be near Debbie's aging parents, we never lost that special fire that burns in the hearts of Texans! We arrived in both Texas and Florida, as young Republicans, active in local politics and wary of those "Liberals"!

However, as time passed and the reality of the vision we shared about America crystalized in our hearts, we found that the Democratic party best represented our beliefs and values better than that of the Republicans. My family has voted Republican since at least Abraham Lincoln, if not since 1850. The blurring of memory due to time, has lost many of my family's history and politics, so exactly  WHY we voted this way, I cannot answer, except to quote my Mother: "We have always been Republican."

Living in Texas, has made NOT being Republican...... difficult! We eventually moved back here, to the desert of far west Texas, an area we fell in love with in the 1980's.. This area attracts odd people and we are two of them.

"Libertarians" seem to be everywhere, though very few understand the definition and most are just Conservatives who don't want to pay taxes and don't want to see any Government employee unless it is a cop answering one of their strange complaints against a neighbor!

Far too many own guns, lots of them, particularly assault rifles. Texas recently passed an "open carry" law and many now pack pistols as if they were a gunslinger in a "spaghetti western". Many go too far. I have a friend who won't go anywhere that he cannot wear his pistol! We have a "drive-in window" at the local liquor store so that those who refuse to remove their guns, can still buy booze, as Texas laws prohibit bringing a firearm into anywhere alcohol is sold!

Too many guns, too much gun culture, climate change denying, extreme evangelical religion, bigotry, LBGT hate, anti-choice sentiment and finally, Donald Trump, all had me becoming cynical, even angry...... then as I have done since 1964, I watched the Republican Convention last week!

After a convention where little went as planned and everyone was angry, particularly the nominee, the balloons did not drop on cue, leaving Trump pointing at the ceiling, showing his young son where the balloons were. The scene made me think Inspector Gordon had just lit the "Bat Signal" and was showing a young boy the only light in Gotham City. I expected to see the Joker standing in the shadows.

The Democratic Convention started no better, with the "WIKI-LEAKS" release of stolen e-mails from Democratic Party insiders. But then there was Michelle! Speaker after speaker lifted us all up and the only thing trying to bring us down, was the few, healthy protest chants from disgruntled Sanders zealots. Even these faded when Bernie himself endorsed Hillary in a selfless act of solidarity! I thought no one could deliver a better speech than Michelle Obama, I was wrong! Joe Biden and Barack Obama, each in their own style, hit "home runs". Michael Bloomberg, a REAL, documented billionaire who could match Trump's imaginary billions 3 to 1 with REAL ones, spoke as the true wealthy do, not of themselves and how wealthy they are, but about the reason he was speaking there as an Independent. Clearly, succinctly and with no nonsense, he explained how and why Donald Trump should never see the White House, let alone be allowed inside!

The next day Trump invited Russia to hack American e-mail computers. Tonight, the parade of unapologetic American heroes began to speak. Gun violence survivors, families of slain police officers, disabled, even a transgender woman! The evening ended with Hillary Clinton speaking and accepting the Party nomination. So familiar with Hillary are we all, that the significance of the moment the first woman ever nominated by a major political party was lost. Hillary is the best candidate for these times, period. Her gender is an afterthought!

I have to admit that when one lives 63 years, fatigue is ever-present! I have good days and bad days and am disappointed most days that I no longer have the energy I once did. Living among what are essentially "Tea Party Conservatives" wearing guns, "home schooling" so that their children's minds are not corrupted by "science", calling 97% of the world's scientists liars over climate change, trying to legislate their religious views about abortion, which is NONE of any man's business and fearful that "the government" will knock on their doors any day to take their guns, had me exhausted, wanting to sell out and move back to where sanity reigns, even among the "non-college-educated white men"!

But Michelle, Michael, Joe, Barack, Tim, Hillary and a stream of everyday Americans, showed me that I was not alone, though I may be in this area. They showed me that my positions on those things that matter to US, are shared by a majority of good, decent Americans and that those who do NOT share these positions, themselves are good, decent Americans who share more in common with me, than they do not.

The Democratic convention caused me to think hard and solidify my position on gun MANAGEMENT in America and that position bears no resemblance to a "spaghetti western", nor would it allow someone less intelligent that spaghetti, one who is unstable, or a threat to everyday Americans, to own a gun and NO ONE to be able to buy assault weapons any longer.

The convention also showed me that we remain a non-partisan, "shining city on a hill" that by welcoming all, betters all and that no one person alone, can fix all our problems, no matter how convincingly they claim they can!

Thanks Democrats! I needed that!

Reagan GOT "Out-Reaganed"!

We watched the DNC last night and will watch every night, just as we did the RNC. Our fear was the same as many in this country, that some sort of violence would erupt and it may still. However, young people, while being essentially the same as we were in the 1960's are of a different generation and I think a bit LESS prone to physical violence that we were.

Certainly booing the invocation prayer seemed to be an indication of things to come. The came Al Franken in a rare "comedy act" with Sarah Silverman that started to disarm the audience. When asked to stretch their time as Paul Simon finished setting up, they seemed at a loss for words and the Bernie supporters seized this, beginning to make noise, until the turning point of the entire Convention came as Sarah Silverman ad-libbed, "To the Bernie or bust people, can I just say this? You're ridiculous!"

Their guards were down because of the light comedy and the fact that Silverman was a huge Bernie supporter. Her comments went to their core. Paul Simon, a legend of rock, sang Bridge Over Troubled Waters, missing many age-adjusted notes.... no one cared...... and then came the speech, not of a lifetime, but of a century! It came from another President's wife and she spoke calmly and quietly about her family and of the greatness of this country NOW, not lost.

I saw the DNC in 1968 in Chicago and lamented the violence. I saw Ronald Reagan in 1976 and 1984 and was blown away. I saw Barack Obama in 2004 and saw the next President.

Last night I saw and HEARD Michelle Obama, remind us in simple, everyday anecdotes, that we live in the greatest civilization this planet has ever seen. I had hoped for a "speech of a lifetime", to see Reagan, out-Reaganed. I did not expect to see and hear it come from Michelle Obama..... I did not expect to see a fractured Party come together in just a few minutes! Even the Trump people won't attack THAT speech, so perfect was it for the day!

The role call vote that is coming later today, I fear will again bring disunity and if there is a chance of violence, it is during that. The role call will finish, quietly or with dissent. Then a number of Bernie supporters will, sadly, go home, foregoing the rest of a convention that is historic. I was in their shoes once. No one who is 63, or 68, or 74 years old, magically jumped to that age. We all walked through every age on Man. We all felt the fire in our bellies that the dawning of adulthood brings and we all reacted to it the same way, though the actual actions reflected to times we came of age in. Many forget how that time felt, I don't and I feel rejuvenated seeing this process through their eyes.

I protested some in the '60's & '70's, my Mother never know or I would have been punished, but I did! I was angered by politicians serving corporate masters and their own selfish interests. But I voted! A few times it was for the lesser of two evils, a couple times for a third party,which ended up getting the greater of two evils elected, but I voted and I accepted the will of the majority. This is Democracy, this is compromise and this is America. It's not perfect, but even with the flaws of every generation, it is and remains, the greatest country on the planet and one that welcomes those who ask to live here willingly!

So as we wait for the roll call vote and hope for the best, a LOT of young, passionate  people at the convention are also waiting to voice the fire in their bellies. The right to voice that, is one of the fundamentals of this Republic and those who lived through 1968, 1972 and even 1948, need to remember and allow this moment. For the protesters of 2016, will become the leaders of 2060 who will stand, white-haired, listening to the youth of that time speak from the same "fire in their bellies!"

Out-Reaganing Reagan

Today, the Democratic National Convention kicks off. At the risk of going where every talking head and pundit in the world has already gone, it will be a stark contrast to last week's Trump coronation. After hearing Trump speak slowly and darkly for 75 minutes, his family joined him on stage. When the balloons didn't fall on cue, He pointed to the "sky" and said something to his youngest son. I could help thinking, after 75 minutes of doom & gloom, that they were looking for the "Bat Signal" and inspector Gordon was telling some little boy, "Batman will come now and put the bad guys in jail".

The entire RNC could not have positioned the Democrats better to produce a lesson in how to produce Conventions, some of the younger talking heads said. However they did not watch the 1968 DNC in Chicago, I did.

It is almost the nature of the Left to be combative, even while talking unity and peace. They, we, are disparate groups of primarily young, hormone-filled people ready to fight, with broad views of Democracy and being generally younger and more inclined to being more educated and less tolerant of that which seems "dumb" for lack of a better word. In short, Democrats protest......... everything and often!

If money is NOT involved, I tend to be one of the luckiest people you will meet. In 1980, when I really awakened politically, it was as a young Republican. I was a car salesman and positive this would bring me great wealth. My mentors and my family were Republican and so was I. I had the honor at a rally of sitting next to then vice-Presidential candidate George HW Bush. We talked, he gave me some names to contact and I did, ending up campaigning for the Presidential ticket and our Congressional candidate. They both won. The folks Bush had me meet, were "insiders" and I stayed in touch with them for many years until drifting away.

It was because of these contacts, that I learned that the "fix" is nearly always on as far as candidates and presidents. That fix does not always work,, Bush in 1992 and Hillary Clinton in 2008, were all upset by upstarts and this trend happily is gaining momentum. We have MORE control over the outcome now, than we have in our history. The INTERNET is the happy creator of this trend.

I am not a conspiracy theory person. However, the cyber break-in at the Democratic Party Headquarters and the subsequent release of e-mails showing the DNC "trying to guide" the nomination toward this year's chosen candidate, Hillary, should not be a surprise to anyone. This has been politics in America since the beginning. The timing of the release and Democrats assertion of a  "connection" to Trump's alignment with Vladimir Putin do look quite "coincidental".

A scandal at the beginning of the DNC, particularly one involving the very popular Bernie Sanders, is just what the dictator ordered! Given the Democrats predisposition to becoming passionate, then unruly, "Trump TWEETS" would be many and effective, if we have even a small revolt, let alone something like 1968.So we cannot!

This is where Bernie Sanders becomes perhaps the most important person in American politics..... today! He and he alone can end this, with a little help from the President asking DWS to NOT be anywhere near the convention floor!

In 1976, Ronald Reagan fought for and BARELY lost the Republican nomination to President Ford. He could have been divisive. He could have done as Ted Cruz did, He could have gone Third Party. He did not. He arguably gave the political speech of his life, both unifying the party and at the same time, leaving them thinking they had made a mistake...... one they corrected four years later.

There may not be "four years later" for 74 year-old Bernie, but there is today. He already got many of his "planks" put into the "platform". He was not going to win, even without the interference of the DNC, but there is no doubt that what he preached for America is what the youth, tomorrow's leaders, want to see in our future and it is there now, without the "Socialist" tag on the nominee that would have put many independent, older voters off.

I like Bernie. My knowledge of him comes from "Brunch With Bernie" that was a part of the Thom Hartmann broadcast every Friday. He was a great candidate, but Hillary won and she is what I personally feel is what America and the world needs right now.

So where does that leave Bernie and his passionate, new, inspired, young, optimistic followers? That, is entirely up to Bernie tonight. He can go the way of Ted Cruz, who, as a fellow Texan,  I respect for his speech and his position. Had Trump spoke of MY Father the way Trump did of his, I would have kicked his non-billionaire butt! BUT, I think Ted did that in his own way!

OR...... Bernie could go the way of 1976 Ronald Reagan and give not just the speech of his political life, but the speech of the century! In addition to all the good Bernie has managed to date, despite not being the nominee, Bernie can unite not only the Democrats, in spite of the released and to-be-released e-mails, but he can unite the Nation and the world behind a clear, qualified leader.

Bernie Sanders can accomplish everything he tried to do, IN DEFEAT, tonight, by finding the words to bring half of America out of its trance and unite (most of) them with the other half, behind a leader who will guide not only us, but the world through what is the most dangerous time in our history that I have lived through.

Can Bernie do it? Yes! A 74 year-old man that can unite 18-25 year-olds behind him can do anything! Will Bernie do it? After having brunch with the man every Friday for about five years, I say he can and he will do it with the Convention on its feet cheering! Bernie can do what most would have though impossible before tonight:

He can out Reagan, Reagan!

New Look, New Content, New Blog!

Thank you for coming here! I just created this blog and have not had time to post anything...... YET!

I have been a writer for most of my life, even having a "syndicated column" for a while in rural north Florida. It ran in 3-5 local newspapers only, but entitles me to the resume of "syndicated photojournalist" nonetheless, though admittedly with a very small audience.

Prior to being cured of being a Republican by George W. Bush's failed presidency and awakening to the theft of the 2000 election, I actually covered the 2004 visit of Dick Cheney to Lake City, Florida for the syndicate.

Though I was a Republican for my life prior to that, it was because my family "had always been Republican", not for their "values" or Party positions. These always aligned with the Democrats! After the obstructionism of the Obama presidency by Republicans and more that we will get into as this blog progresses, I will NEVER, as long as I live, vote for another Republican. However, I won't identify myself as a Democrat either. I am an independent voter and will be for life. However, as a solid supporter of woman's rights, including reproductive rights, gay rights & marriage and national health care, there is not much chance of my voting anything except Democrat for a VERY long time!

If you support the Democratic tickets this cycle and Progressive politics in general, join me here, comment, often and pass the URL to everyone you can! These blogs get read more, if they are read more!!

If you are one of the many who feel the choices this year are bad ones and that the two major candidates are the least wanted in history, this graphic should be of interest to you!

There will be a LOT more, very soon!