nikto
nikto's JournalIf all discussion is kept at a level of POLICIES, IDEAS AND LAWS, there should be no problems
Issues to stay focused on:
--The Drug War (i.e. ending it)
--For-profit prisons (i.e. ending them, once and for all)
--Police killings (disproportionally of people of color) and corrective Policies: Body cams, more citizen oversight, cops must be local residents, etc
--Militarization of Police nationally, getting inappropriate surplus military weapons, (stopping this trend)
--Voter suppression (i.e. stopping it)
--need for massive national Infrastructure spending, also creating jobs
--Lower college costs
--protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare
--Work towards Single-Payer Healthcare for all
--Keep corporations from shipping out more US jobs
Talk about actual issues.
Anything else (i.e. hysterical demonstrative behavior, emoting over painful issues without considering possible solutions, etc)
is just plain old BS.
Progressivism and Martin Luther King's Legacy are perfectly compatible because both are all about IDEAS.
I completely agree with your statement
It is an incontrovertible fact that many many people judge the validity of an idea by who supports that idea whom they happen to like, rather than actually trying to understand the idea in any kind of objective way.
So we get: "If So-and-so supports it, it's got to be good, so I support it too".
Using popular "leaders" to focus and guide public acceptance of a questionable new policy idea that might actually be a detriment, is the oldest trick in the ruling elites' book.
In fact, that is the entire story of the Reagan administration's success with the American working class,
whom his administration abused terribly and without respite in a series of hurtful policies
that people loved him for regardless.
A similar thing is happening here with Obama and TPP, I'm afraid.
Obama did say he admired the Reagan Presidency (for its effectiveness, I presume).
But with TPP, he's borrowing a POLICY and PHILOSOPHY page as well as a public relations one.
TPP is right out of the neoliberal U of Chicago/Milton Friedman's playbook.
But U of Chicago is Obama's Alma Mater, so maybe it should come as no surprise, eh?
Seeking "cat-whisperer" advice ---- RE: New Cat in the house, compatibility with my older cat, etc
Since my beloved elderly Ragdoll male died last December, my other cat (and longtime companion of the Ragdoll,
although not related), has been alone.
She and the Ragdoll were together for probably 7 or 8 years, and got along well.
She (Krishna) is a non-dominant-personality Bombay cat, around 10 years old or so.
Since her companion's death, she seemed lonely, but has adapted somewhat, and is closer and more affectionate to us than she was before (the Ragdoll was always the more outgoing one).
Anyway, I miss having two cats, and after a time, I desired to find a reasonably compatible companion for Krishna, especially
when we are out of the house for a few hours.
I know it is impossible to "replace" the Ragdoll, and his wonderful personality, but I felt that if I could get a mellow,
un-dominant-seeming male, they might get along OK, even if not necessarily as well as with the Ragdoll.
Last monday, after checking this cat out over a couple earlier visits to Good Friends adoption center,
I brought home a 6-year old male, black and white domestic shorthair, named Opie.
He is affectionate, seems pretty mellow and non-aggressive, and had no problem being around other cats,
as I saw at the adoption center. His apparent mellowness won us over.
My preparations:
He's been here for 4 full days now, holed-up in the den, with full supplies (his own separate water bar, food bowls,
scratch post, litter box, window to look out of, jazz radio station on softly in background, plush pet bed, soft lighting, comfortable furniture to lie on, etc. I even have a Feliway (commercial product) "cat-relaxing" pheremone dispenser on in the walkway
right outside the door of the den where Opie is.
According to advice and readings I have done, I have isolated him from the other cat for now.
They have yet to meet face-to-face, although they have caught a couple quick glimpses of each other through the open door.
They both know the other exists, I am certain.
Here is where I'm stuck.
Now what?
How do I handle the 1st face-to-face meeting?
When is the right time? Are there more steps to follow first?
What if it doesn't go well?
Would a male and female kitty ever fight physically?
I fully expect some hissing and warning-sounds at first, especially from Krishna,
as she would feel invaded in her own home, I would imagine.
No problem with that. But could anything more serious happen?
My hope is that Opie will be wary and respectful of Krishna, and give her space (they have the most of the house to roam in),
while she gets used to Opie, and sees, after a time, that he is not a threat.
But to be honest, I have no idea what will really happen, and I'm kind of scared about "the moment of truth".
I want everything to go well so much.
I would be heartbroken if it didn't work out and I had to bring Opie back (although Good Friends is a no-kill shelter).
I apologize for going on so long, but there's the whole situation.
Help?
What do I do now?
Thanks in advance for any response.
Seeking "cat-whisperer" advice ---- RE: New Cat in the house, compatibility with my older cat, etc
Since my beloved elderly Ragdoll male died last December, my other cat (and longtime companion of the Ragdoll,
although not related), has been alone.
She and the Ragdoll were together for probably 7 or 8 years, and got along well.
She (Krishna) is a non-dominant-personality Bombay cat, around 10 years old or so.
Since her companion's death, she seemed lonely, but has adapted somewhat, and is closer and more affectionate to us than she was before (the Ragdoll was always the more outgoing one).
Anyway, I miss having two cats, and after a time, I desired to find a reasonably compatible companion for Krishna, especially
when we are out of the house for a few hours.
I know it is impossible to "replace" the Ragdoll, and his wonderful personality, but I felt that if I could get a mellow,
un-dominant-seeming male, they might get along OK, even if not necessarily as well as with the Ragdoll.
Last monday, after checking this cat out over a couple earlier visits to Good Friends adoption center,
I brought home a 6-year old male, black and white domestic shorthair, named Opie.
He is affectionate, seems pretty mellow and non-aggressive, and had no problem being around other cats,
as I saw at the adoption center. His apparent mellowness won us over.
My preparations:
He's been here for 4 full days now, holed-up in the den, with full supplies (his own separate water bar, food bowls,
scratch post, litter box, window to look out of, jazz radio station on softly in background, plush pet bed, soft lighting, comfortable furniture to lie on, etc. I even have a Feliway (commercial product) "cat-relaxing" pheremone dispenser on in the walkway
right outside the door of the den where Opie is.
According to advice and readings I have done, I have isolated him from the other cat for now.
They have yet to meet face-to-face, although they have caught a couple quick glimpses of each other through the open door.
They both know the other exists, I am certain.
Here is where I'm stuck.
Now what?
How do I handle the 1st face-to-face meeting?
When is the right time? Are there more steps to follow first?
What if it doesn't go well?
Would a male and female kitty ever fight physically?
I fully expect some hissing and warning-sounds at first, especially from Krishna,
as she would feel invaded in her own home, I would imagine.
No problem with that. But could anything more serious happen?
My hope is that Opie will be wary and respectful of Krishna, and give her space (they have the most of the house to roam in),
while she gets used to Opie, and sees, after a time, that he is not a threat.
But to be honest, I have no idea what will really happen, and I'm kind of scared about "the moment of truth".
I want everything to go well so much.
I would be heartbroken if it didn't work out and I had to bring Opie back (although Good Friends is a no-kill shelter).
I apologize for going on so long, but there's the whole situation.
Help?
What do I do now?
Thanks in advance for any response.
You are painfully, agonizingly correct
I support Obama on Iran, Cuba, social issues, and a bunch of other stuff.
Those are good.
But his support of TPP is awful, just awful.
It is awful because TPP is awful, and Obama is a bright person who knows its awful.
But he pushes it anyway.
Obama is very much a mixed-bag as a President, and not a Progressive on many huge issues.
On many issues he seems like an obedient product of The University Of Chicago and Milton Friedman.
Privatized Public Schools/"Race-To-The-Top"? Drone killings? NSA spying? "Banks Too Big To Fail (or JAIL)?
These are part of what I think of as Obama's "bad" side.
All in all, my feelings about him are, "complex".
I am not some mindless "Obama-basher", but just someone who is earnestly Progressive on many issues,.
especially economic ones. And it is on the key economic and financial issues where I disagree with him most strongly.
The "TPP" side of Obama is not the side of him I like or admire.
Sorry, but that side of Obama is just way way too Reagan for me.
Y' know what I'm talkin' about?
I'm a boomer too (born in early 50s)
And I too, place MUCH blame on our generation and its smug complacency.
Plus, voting for REAGAN (which I never did--I smelled trouble from the get-go with RR, as some others did) was a real departure point for our generation----The place where many boomers left the rails of political common-sense, and never returned.
The election of Reagan is one of the biggest and bitterest points of criticism for our generation, IMO.
So much damage was done to America, while boomers counted their meagre tax cuts and cheered like idiots.
Too many Democrats have THIN SKINS
True progressives need to be fighters who relish the battle for justice,
and expect it to be uphill.
Schultz sounds like she was never really with us.
On most stations (which are owned by mega-corps like Comcast, Clear Channel, etc) it IS an agenda
Agreed.
The agenda is set at the highest levels.
Limbaugh was subsidized in his early years. Others are not subsidized. Why was he?
Because he served a corporate agenda.
Obvious cui bono.
Do more dishonest institutions than BIG CORPORATIONS exist in our society?
Typical mega-corporation, swimming in a sea of crony-capitalism...
You have to wonder what our elites are REALLY thinking...
When the media they own and control goes the "Full-Monty" on fear regarding a number of issues (Putin,ISIS, Ebola)
with terrorism leading the way.
This video brilliantly de-constructs the nauseating, but ominous phoniness of these so-called "authorities",
who are payed damn good money to LIE to us and manipulate our fears in our own mass-media.
Don't mean come off as a conspiracy-theorist, but thinking about the cui bono here
is a bit scary, to be honest.
Are We The People being set up?
And if so, for what?
I can't help thinking...
Nothing would stop a populist surge (based largely on economic issues), and feared by the elites,
like a big, shiny new war.
Know what I'm tryin' to say?
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Gender: Do not displayHome country: USA
Current location: California
Member since: Sat Sep 9, 2006, 07:02 PM
Number of posts: 3,284
