2017-09-29

The Kurds - Forgotten no more?

We'll see.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Kurdistan_independence_referendum,_2017#Results

Choice Votes  %
Referendum passed Yes 2,861,471 92.73
No 224,464 7.27
Valid votes 3,085,935 94.76
Invalid or blank votes 219,990 6.65
Total votes 3,305,925 100.00
Registered voters and turnout 4,581,255 72.16
Source: KHEC

2017-09-28

A warning to Progressively-minded people about Sanders' health-care bill.

This is a tough fight, because we’re asking capitalist politicians to sacrifice a capitalist industry for the social good. (And, yes, it can and will be argued, for the good of the capitalist economy as a whole—but there’s a stubborn resistance to any such class disloyalty.) The only thing that will get single-payer done in any congress is a massive, in-their-face public demand that politicians of both parties are too afraid of to deny. It will be done by a popular movement, independent of both parties, that creates a political atmosphere which encourages single-payer supporting candidates from both parties (yes, there will be Republicans) to come forward, and elects a congress where even some of those who don’t want to vote for single-payer, will.
That will only happen if single-payer advocates, many of them Bernie supporters, maintain a clear and consistent demand for publicly-funded, universal and equal coverage, for the easily comprehensible, proven-effective Medicare-for-all system—no if, ands, or doo-dads. That will only happen if single-payer advocates refuse to be divided and confused with any of the complicated schemes and doo-dads whose only purpose is to maintain a stream of payments to the private health-insurance industry. That will only happen if single-payer advocates, including Democrats and Bernie supporters, speak and act independently of the Democratic Party and Bernie Sanders, and in opposition to any dilution-complication either might put forward pre-emptively. There’s a reason—and it has everything to do with political feasibility—that there is not, never was, and will not be a “public option” movement. We cannot let anyone, even Bernie Sanders, try to turn the single-payer movement into one.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/21/fool-me-twice-trojan-horse-democrats-pile-into-the-house-of-single-payer/

The days just seem to pile up.

Endless work - at least that's the way it's felt since I returned.

Reviews, deployments, more reviews, more meetings, endless - sometimes circular discussions.

And non-stop email.

It's times like this I ask myself - why did I go into IT?

2017-09-24

Dumbasses at the park.

Two on skateboards ... On a walkway.

And a third one with an unleashed animal.

Amazing how law enforcement is never around when needed.

2017-09-22

Can you ever really go home again?

People ask this question of themselves all the time - I'm no different.

I grew up on Canada. Originally I spent my early years living in a very big city, before ending up in the suburbs. Though honestly, the town I lived in was exactly that - it was a small town that existed on its own long before being designated a suburb.

Anyways ...

I lived in a part of the country where my language at home and at school was English, but in a city and province where French is the majority. When I was a kid I hated learning other languages, including my parents' native one, as well as French. Looking back, I think it wasn't the languages, nor even the idea of learning, but rather being forced to do something where I'd rather do something else. The other aspect of it was, I'm essentially a non-competitive person. I don't like engaging in games or contests with  other people. At the same time, I don't like being a loser in someone else's game. So combine not wanting to be there, plus always being made to feel like an idiot for not learning as fast as others, made life even more frustrating.

Of course - I should be thankful I can complain. After all, I did have a roof over my head, food to eat, a bed to sleep in. My parents - despite having their issues - were neither drug or alcohol abusers, and while they were violent, there kids I knew who had it much worse. But getting back to my diatribe ...

I made my career so far in IT. It wasn't what I wanted to do in life, but I realize that it's given me the life I have, and it does provide for me the opportunity to pursue what I want to do. Looking back, had I tried to do what I wanted from the beginning in that environment, the chances of me succeeding would have been a lot less, than where I'm at now, where I still have my ideas, my dreams, and slowly, the means to make them happen.

I'm really to start making some of that happen now. The question then becomes, if I achieve my goals and am able to reap any benefit from it, would that mean I'd move back to where I grew up?

Yes - it'd mean going back, but on a different set of levels. I'd be going back on my terms, on my success, and - assuming my dreams come true - with a bit of notoriety and respect. And where I lived is still a nice place, despite some family-related challenges.

I would consider it under those circumstances. So yes I could find myself going back, but not now. Not as I am presently.

2017-09-21

In-fucking-deed.

A word to the wise about the establishment media - they are fucking hypocrites.

Outlets That Scolded Sanders Over Deficits Uniformly Silent on $700B Pentagon Handout


http://fair.org/home/outlets-that-scolded-sanders-over-deficits-uniformly-silent-on-700b-pentagon-handout/

As FAIR has noted for decades (e.g., 2/23/11, 5/8/16), the media’s deficit discourse has always been a PR scam. A rhetorical bludgeon used to cry poverty any time a left-wing politician wants to help the poor or people of color that somehow is never an issue when it comes to pumping out F-22s and E3 AWACS, which evidently pay for themselves with magic.
The increase alone in military spending—over a budget that was already bigger than the next eight countries combined—is greater than the total amount spent annually on state university tuition by every student in the United States: $81 billion vs. $70 billion. This is to say that if the budget for the US military had just stayed the same for 2018, the US could have paid the tuition for every public college student this year, with $11 billion left over for board and books.

2017-09-20

A word to the wise to pretty much anyone who calls me.

Unless I'm expecting a call from you; if I don't know the number, I don't pick up.

And, if you don't leave a message, don't expect me to call back.

The disasters just keep on coming ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events

2017-09-15

Overlooked section of Sanders' "Medicare For All" bill

"The Medicare Transitional Plan would be available for anyone who doesn’t yet qualify for the new Medicare plan during those 4 years. It would have an actuarial value of 90 percent, meaning individuals would be responsible for 10 percent of the costs of all covered health care benefits. This would be classified as “Platinum” coverage on the exchanges. It would be better suited for non-seniors and includes a series of subsidies that make it truly affordable for everyone."

https://shadowproof.com/2017/09/14/surprising-provision-buried-sanders-medicare-bill/

2017-09-14

I really feel there's something wrong with this woman.

And frankly by not dropping out of public site, she truly dooms both the Democratic Party and any fledgling progressive movement within said party from ever moving forward.

Hey! Maybe that's exactly why she's sticking around!

2017-09-04

The United States - the REAL aggressor.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/04/what-the-media-isnt-telling-you-about-north-koreas-missile-tests/

What the media failed to mention was that,  for the last three weeks, Japan, South Korea and the US have been engaged in large-scale joint-military drills on Hokkaido Island and in South Korea. These needlessly provocative war games are designed to simulate an invasion of North Korea and a “decapitation” operation to remove (Re: Kill)  the regime. North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un has asked the US repeatedly to end these military exercises, but the US has stubbornly refused.

2017-09-02

Seriously, these look like Apocalypse pictures.






You'd think the weather site would advocate we run for our lives. Of course, where would we go?

Call to action

"What is most missing on the Left are not policy and societal solutions but rather cohesive, resilient, long-lasting radical organization tying together the various fragmented groups and issues around which Left progressive and Leftists often fight very good struggles in the U.S. Without serious, durable, unified, and convincing Left organization, neither revolutionary vision nor reform proposals are going to go very far."

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/01/if-hillary-had-won/