Cloning Jesus

It had to happen. After Dolly the sheep, a cow, assorted fruit flies, mice and other lower species, scientists would decide it was time to clone humans. In Italy a scientist has stated, against the tide of medical ethics, that if someone comes to him to be cloned, he’ll do it.

But that’s nothing. There’s now talk of cloning Jesus. I read it a few years back, and got to thinking maybe it's time to revive this thought. (Apparently the origin of this was a fake website now debunked by Snopes, but hey, a girl can dream right, especially one who went to a Christian college for a year.)  With all the blood and other relics purporting to be from the Son of God himself lying around in various churches, reliquaries and front yards of the devoted, it should be an easy task to scrape a few dried traces up for the test tube. If some of the blood isn’t actually authentic, we can probably still come up with a few minor saints and prophets.

And what a about the Virgin Mary? Can we take some tears running down the cheeks of a Brazilian Madonna on Easter morning and reproduce her? We can have the whole family, back together again! The Holy Ghost might be a problem. I don’t think ghosts have DNA, but maybe we can just conjure him up out of the aether.

What would a modern day Jesus be like? He’d have to dress differently if he wanted to minister to the 21^st century If he turned up in robes and sandals, he’d be directed to Berkeley, and if he showed up with a cross and stigmata, he’d be picked up on a 72 hour hold.

A modern day Messiah would need a BMW and a line of gab.  Definitely a website, a Blog and a Facebook page.  He’d have to have hair by Yosh and clothes by Armani. Or maybe Calvin, so as not to appear snobbish. But really, no one is going to listen to him if he goes all humble and dresses like a bricklayer. Not even the bricklayers.

And he has to have a TV Ministry.  One with one of those mega churches. So it has to be in the South or one of the desert area, like LA, or Las Vegas, maybe Arizona, but no one in  northern climes ever goes to them, so far as I can tell. You can really pack them in and then the rest of your followers can watch you on TV and then send in their alms or tithe online.

But he needs a body of water nearby to walk on and a temple to drive the moneychangers out of. What is money changer anyway?  I’m guessing sort of like a loan shark. 

And can you imagine the Easter services, when he climb out of tomb and actually ascends into Heaven, maybe Mary and the Holy Ghost can accompany him each year up through the clouds and past the Pearly gates.  The whole crucifixion thing may have to go, too violent , maybe he can just take to the cave and pop out in three days, with all the ladies in their finery and men in the Sunday best waiting outside for the show to start.

I bet Jesus even gets scalpers for that!

Debra Saunders - Half Right

So, in today's Chronicle, Debra Saunders got it half-right.  Her column concerned dunderheaded Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin and his (as Saunders put it) "inglorious answer: 'From what I understand from doctors, that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something: You know, I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist and not attacking the child.'" 

Truly awful, anti-woman, anti-science, inhumane and really, really stupid.  When he tried to backtrack, he just made it worse, revealing incredible ignorance and misogyny.  Again in Saunders' words, his lame apology and stated empathy for women who are raped was "Too late. I think voters know exactly what Akin thinks of rape victims: If they get pregnant, they wanted it."

So far so good, right?  But wait, there's more, as they say on the infomercials for spray on hair and slice and dice-o-matics.  Debra Saunders cannot miss an opportunity to stick it to Democrats, and she gets in her jabs here. 

After making disparaging remarks about Obama, Barbara Boxer and Akin's opponent in the Senate race, sitting Senator Claire McCaskill, she says: "The so-called Republican "war on women" is a crock - a cynical ploy to gin up the Dems' distaff base."  say what?  Didn't you hear what you just said this creep Akin said?  If that's not fueling the Republican war on women, what is it?  He said that because there IS a war on women and he's just a less articulate soldier than his fellow Reps who are busy gutting abortion rights, defunding Planned Parenthood and even trying to take away birth control options.

If it walks and quacks and so forth, it is one genuine Baby Huey.  A big duck bill raspberry for Debra Saunders today.

 

 

Button, Button, Who needs a Button?

A recent article on the Winning Campaigns website urges campaigns to buy a button machine and create their own buttons.  If you must have buttons, this isn’t a bad way to go.  But the article goes on to compare the cost of buttons to the cost of other campaign elements, notably direct  mail, stating that most of this will never be opened or read as the voters have other things on their mind. Buttons, he states, by contrast, will be seen by those who meet your candidate or their volunteers at the door, a rally or a fundraiser.

And therein lies the rub.  Most voters are not ever going to meet the candidate or a volunteer, or even an eager supporter with a button, unless that candidate has done such a great job of promoting the campaign through other methods that they “go viral” with the button blast.

Just as we have learned that “yard signs don’t vote,” this caution is even more true about buttons. Yes, mail costs money and uses paper, and phone calls cost time, but they are guaranteed to reach the actual voters in their home, giving them an opportunity to see and hear the candidate’s name, and probably even to absorb on a subliminal level , if nothing else, the basic elements of the message.  A yard sign or a button (or a bumber sticker for that matter) is nothing but a reinforcement, not a substitute for these time proven methods of message delivery.

Candidates who have relied only on volunteers sporting buttons to deliver their message have been disappointed losers on election night, time and again.

So, if you think you need buttons, or are being pressured by volunteers who have seen other candidates’ buttons and wonder why you don’t have them, here are some guidelines.

•  
• Don’t pay for buttons.  If a volunteer who already has a button machine offers to make them, great.  Make enough for the office staff, your precinct walkers, your family and a few extra.  Ask for donations before handing them out to anyone else.
•  
•  Don’t stint on the real campaign materials, a winning message, enough mail to deliver it into the voters’ homes (yes, they will throw it out, but they have to look at it on the way to the recycling bin.  This is where a strong mail consultant comes in to assure a viable message delivered in an eye-catching way.)
•  
•  Use your volunteers wisely, on the phones (you reach more voters via phones , even in this day of cell phones, than by walking precincts , so if you have older volunteers or unwalkable but crucial precincts, make those phone calls) and in the crucial targeted precincts identified by your consultant. This is where your buttons may come in handy, but they are not crucial.  An eager, informed volunteer and a strong handout or door hanger is.
•  
• And of course, plan early, raise money sufficient for the campaign plan you have laid out, and  even if there’s no budget for buttons or signs, you know you have laid a strong foundation to add them later on, should your campaign message start gaining traction, and you have more money than you can use in the more traditional message delivery methods. 
•  
• Don’t forget the free things available to boost your name id:  social media, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube videos of rallies and speeches, and earned media – don’t neglect the press releases and other pr opportunities that might get your name in the press, both print and electronic. 

Buttons are great, but they don’t vote, they’ll be seen by only a handful of people, and they could siphon off much needed money and time from the all-important mail, media and grassroots efforts any winning campaign needs.

Top 10 Reasons Romney Won't Release his Tax Returns

10. He's really, really modest about all those charities he donates to that help the poor children of liberals

9. He's paid more than the 13.9% he disclosed and doesn't want to look bad to his Bain buddies

8. He gave away all his money to the Church and is living off horse show proceeds only.

7. His evil twin hacked into all his accounts and made off with the dough to a secret hideaway in the South of France

6. A ten year old computer whiz named Otto living in New Jersey hacked into all his accounts and diverted them to funding his college education at Reed.

5. He gambled them all away in Vegas while on a mission for the Church to save the heathens on the Strip.

4. He used the money to bribe the Olympic judges into giving his wife's horse a better score then it deserved.

3. He joined with Michael Vick in funding animal rights organizations.

2. He pushed the wrong button on the Obama site and accidentally sent all his money to Obama's re-election campaign instead of telling him to burn in hell.

1. He pushed the wrong button on the Palestine Liberation Organization site and donated all his money to funding a statue of Arafat to be erected in Jerusalem instead of telling them to burn in hell.

Still Talking about Citizens United - Free Speech ain't Free

Debra Saunders, in her latest SFgate column, takes us on a joyride with the corporate spinmeisters now benefiting from the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizen's United, the landmark case that equates speech with money in the most blatant way yet, opening the floodgates to corporations to pour gazillions into ads for their favorite candidates.

But this free speech, says Saunders, merely a level playing field, since labor unions are also afforded this privilege, a comparison that brings to mind the famous quote of Anatole France that "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."  Let's be real, unions may have some clout left on the campaign front, but they are nowhere tipping the scales in their favor when corporate bars of gold weigh down the other side of the political scale.

In this particular column, Saunders' barbed words are aimed at a favorite target of hers: the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who recently joined a growing number of municipalities calling for a Constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United decision and undoing the concept of corporate personhood (a concept that first appeared in another Supreme Court decision, the Gilded-Age decision called Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railway Company).  

Corporations says Saunders "don't have the same rights as people: they can't vote and they can't run for office."  No but they can buy votes and decide who runs for, and wins, public office, not to mention grease the halls of Congress and state Capitols with their "free speech" dollars.

If you don't believe that,  you are free to look for them under the bridge with the poor people exercising their free speech rights with signs saying "homeless corporation; will peddle influence for cash."

Pundit Pie - Political Food for the Soul

Romney and Bain Capital: Was he or wasn’t he? (reprinted from http://punditpie.blogspot.com/ )

The Romney/Bain Capital scandal is a delicious soap opera, getting more juicy by the day.  Now we learn that not only were they busily outsourcing jobs, during the period Romney claimed not to be involved, but they invested in an aborted fetus dumping company, which the right wing anti-choice crowd compares to the Nazis.  The contentious issue is whether he, as chairman of the board, CEO and owner, listed on the SEC filings as late as 2002, after claiming to have left control in 1999, to go to the Olympics (No, he wasn’t in the competitive hair-gel category), was actually responsible for these decisions, or at least had knowledge of them.

The consensus seems to be, ”Duh, well of course!”  At least among the Democratic pundits.  Romney’s own camp says, well, he was much too busy pulling the Olympics’ fat out of the fire to be concerned with the day to day trivialities of his own company.  

If a recent down ticket race in California is any indicator, the Democratic consensus will win out in the mind of the electorate, anyway.

Stacey Lawson and the California Second Congressional District Race:

In this race, neophyte wannabe Stacey Lawson touted her credentials as a “job creator,”  claiming she was the only one who had created hundreds, thousands, or maybe 50 (depending on what day it was) jobs in various start-ups she worked with.  She was maddeningly vague about her roles and it became clear that she was exaggerating her importance to any jobs created, at the least. 

Soon enough, information surfaced about one of her more recent start-ups, of which she was actually held the title of Chair of the Board. (or to use a food analogy, Head Chef.) This company, Chelsey Henry, had failed to remit its payroll taxes, collected from employees for a number of quarters, to the government, both State (Washington) and Federal.  Additionally, it was learned that the business outsourced its product production (high end women’s handbags) to China. 

This information emerged in a key debate and was quickly picked up by major news outlets in the District, as well as an anonymous website entitled “Who is Stacey Lawson?”   (Which itself sparked a mouth-watering buzz in the blogosphere.)  Ms. Lawson compounded her culpability by making several contradictory and misleading statements about her relationship with the company.  First she claimed it filed bankruptcy after the discrepancies were discovered.  Later she had to correct herself when confronted with the fact that the company was actually taken over by one of its many creditors. 

Then she claimed she and the other board members “rectified” the errors in reporting once they learned of it. (They did not and sums owed were still outstanding when the company was acquired by the creditor).  She showed a remarkable lack of understanding of the role of Chair of a corporate board, and these failings, along with a dismal voting history,  led to her being seen as a less than credible candidate. Instead of being the runner up in California’s first open-primary, which would have pitted  two Democrats against each other,  she finished a weak fourth, despite an incredible war chest filled by investment bankers and venture capitalists.

A Lesson for Democrats in the Presidential Election:

Even though her role with Chelsey Henry was not as great as that of Romney in Bain, the lessons are the same.  As Chair, it was her responsibility to know what was happening with the company.  Romney, as Chief Cook and Bottle Washer and sole shareholder of Bain, is even more culpable for these shortcomings.  His claims to have kept out of the kitchen when the sausage was being made will not play well with the electorate, so long as the story stays alive. That should be the Democrats number one job between now and the election.  Keep the Bain Capital story in the press and in the minds of the voters.   

Maybe in the heady world of venture capital and money management, it’s no big deal, but to the average American, who has to watch every penny, every transaction, and every loaf of bread, it’s  majorly huge.  Or it should be  If a business man claims his way of doing business is good for the country, make darned sure you know what his way is.  Pink Slime in a béarnaise sauce is still just as bad for you.

Is it 1984 yet?

Here we are in the middle of the 2012 election cycle and it feels more and more like 1984 all the time, the Book, not the year. Romney is a man talking in Newspeak.  Obama is not being helpful in the Big Brother Department. More cell phone surveillance all the time, say the headlines. Drones that can sneak into your ear and pick up on your thoughts.  Well, not yet, but soon.

Romney can only do worse.  Down is Up, and "I was for it before I was against it," is the mantra of the day.  Why was it not ok for Kerry to say it, but now that the Reps have twisted the English language to suit their version of reality, everyone else is all defense all the time?

Is this deja vu all over again?  Only upside down and backwards?  Do Republicans have black stones where their hearts used to be?  It must be a Dick Cheney thing. He cast his evil spell on them all, and now they are Norquist groupies. No new taxes.  Even if they are the same old taxes.  And who will pave the roads? Who will put out the fire, arrest the thief, teach the children?

All good things are bad to them. All bad things are good.  More corporate loopholes; lower taxes for the rich.  Ronald Reagan lives.  If you extend tax cuts to the middle class, but let them expire for the wealthiest one percent, you are raising taxes and killing jobs.

What jobs?  Where are the jobs they claim to create, with their tax breaks and loopholes? Oh, yeah, they are all in China, India.  The rich can visit their money in the Cayman Islands or Zog Switzerland. (or wherever it is, not here, not paying back the society that helped them amass their fortunes.) It will all "trickle down" eventually to the poor, the middle classes, who are now the poor anyway.  By the time it reaches you though, it will be dishwater, down the drain.

"Are there no workhouses, no prisons?"  Why don't they just come right out and say it?  Stand up Democrats and punch these clowns in the gut. Send them to jail, straight to jail, no more passing Go and no more collecting $200 dollars on the way.

Aging - Getting it all over with in youth

Message transmitted from mysterious sources in space, picked up on cable news:

Greeting Earthlings! I come from the Planet Zog, where we do things differently, and so much better.  Example:  We get our Alzheimers and osteoporosis and arthritis out of the way in our youth, so we can enjoy old age.  Isn’t that the fair way?  Have a heart attack in your teens, we say and have it done with.

Oh, we still have a fair amount of deaths from natural and unnatural causes. Not everyone survives childhood, but those that do have a chance to enjoy their retirement.  In contrast, you earthlings work your butts off for 50 years, get a gold watch and the next day, zap, the ticker quits.

We have a pretty good system of justice on Zog too. One that follows the natural order.  Our kids are too creaky and cripped up to commit violent crimes, and don’t yet have the savvy for the white-collar ones,  so by the time they age out of prime crime committing age (which coincidentally is the same as your prime TV watching age, which is why you are all complaining about nothing good on TV for anyone over forty), they’re starting to get in shape and appreciate all that life has to offer, without the pesky emotional roller coast ride of youth.  That is taken care by the body’s frailties in the early years.   

In youth, their minds are clear, their skin is good (one glitch, we have pimples in our old age, but compared with all that other stuff, it’s a fair trade off). Yes, we mature emotionally in much the same way as you do.  But we can’t do a lot about it because of the opposite way our bodies age.  This has the added benefit of keeping the population down.  There’s plenty of food to go around on Zog. 

And about TV.  Our shows are mainly geared toward the over-fifty crowd, who spends a lot of time skateboarding and such, and don’t really have time to zone out in front of the tube, so it has to be really really compelling for us to watch.  Young people are too busy trying to survive youth to sit around watching TV.    

Well, Earthlings, I just stopped in to say hello, got to jet off to finish my galactic tour.  Hope I haven’t depressed you.  You’ll soon forget everything I told you anyway; it’s built into your flawed genes. Catch you next millennium.

Oh, the Wily Ways of John Roberts

A cynics view of the health care decision: 

Am I being cynical?   Or did Justice Roberts just toss a poison pill into the Health Care ruling by calling the individual mandate penalty a “tax” thereby handing Romney a big fat issue to bolster his Presidential campaign.  

While the Health Care ruling is a major victory for the Obama Administration and, we can only hope, a step toward a more comprehensive health care system such as Medicare for All, Roberts has cleverly and as deftly as robed Carl Rove and Grover Norquist, handed Romney and the republicans a big fat political contribution disguised as an insightful reading of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which, according to Roberts, would not allow such a mandate, while the “taxing” clause does. 

Avoiding or wading into the political arena?

In her Friday Chronicle column, Deborah Saunders spins this as the Court wisely staying out of politics, but what could be more political than tossing the “tax grenade” into your opponent’s lap?

And never think for one moment that Roberts and the conservative members of the Supreme Court Justices are not the opponents of the Obama Administration and Democratic principles?  Usually voting with his gang of five right wing colleagues to undercut civil liberties, criminal justice and other progressive legislation, Roberts took a more nuanced and devious route to achieving the goals of the conservative agenda – showing his prowess at playing the political game as astutely as the best of the back room operatives and lobbyists.

Separation of powers, or bring on corporate rule?

Is this a portent of rulings to come?   Yes, I am cynical. As a lawyer, it is disheartening to see the lines between the branches of government blurring and then even worse, the lines between government and corporatism having been but all erased, thanks to the Roberts Court.  It’s all part of a continuum, down the rabbit hole we go with decisions like Bush v. Gore, Citizens United and whatever the fallout will be in the November 2012 election with this health care decision.

Me and Ahmad What's-his-name

I’m dating a cute Iranian Dictator!

One side of an IM exchange:

June 17, 2012

Hi Sadie

Guess what?  I’m dating a cute Iranian Dictator I met on Match.com.  Well, cyber dating so far, as he is in Iran and I am in New Jersey. LOL!  I’m sure you know the one I mean, Ahmad... something?  I call him Ami. He calls me Blashinka.  He’s a sweetie-pie.  I know what you’re thinking. “Girlfriend, what are you nutz? He’s a dictator for cryin’ out loud!”

I hear you, all right. But a woman of my age and dimensions can’t be too picky. Know what I mean?  And sure he’s a dictator and I guess he has some nasty habits. But, Girlfriend, he’s cute!  Seriously! Though I think he dyes his hair, but who doesn’t?  Oh, is this TMI? Sorry. There’s more. He’s funny.  I mean it, he makes me laugh. And that twinkle in his eye, and it’s not just his Match.com picture either; the dude’s been on TV!  You’ve seen him, I know you have, in his uniform with the lock of hair falling over one eye. Seriously cute, am I right?  Admit it, you think he’s cute.

And he has a story.  He’s an up by the bootstraps guy. Did you know that? I thought not. You’re prejudiced like everyone else. Probably think he was born into wealth like a king or something. He’s an engineer, Girlfriend!  Had to work his way up from the slums of Iran.  Sure he’s tough and ran with a bad crowd, but you know I’ve got a weakness for the bad boys. Remember Jim Bob Gorfman in eighth grade?  Whoa. The things we did. Don’t even get me started. I heard from him last year, did I tell you? Right after he got out of Lompac.  Well, he’s gone now, rest his soul; you didn’t read about the heist that went bad? Well, you don’t stick up a bank with a starter’s pistol, let me tell you.  Some called it suicide by cop, but I know Jim Bob wasn’t the brightest bulb on the tree. I don’t blame the police. What are they going to do when someone’s starts shooting up the place, and everybody screaming and all?  How could they know it was just a toy gun?

Now, Ami is smart.  You don’t get to be President of a major nuclear power, without being pretty sharp in the brains department. And that’s what he is, not really a dictator at all!  He was duly elected by democratic vote more than once.  And don’t start in with all that corruption stuff either.  Look at what goes on right here in the good old US of A. Were you not paying attention to the last few elections?  Hello, President Al Gore? Huh, huh?  

And modesty. Let me tell you about it. The man sent his own antique genuine Persian rugs to a museum. That’s how modest he is. I know you’re harrumphing and thinking, “Well, it’s Iran, all the rugs are Persian,” but they’re not all antiques, so there. Not that I’d mind having one or two for myself, if I ever get to be Mrs. Ami. No, I’m certainly not counting my chickens. I know Presidents don’t marry people like me. I know he’s already married, but Girlfriend, he only has one wife! And Iranians can have as many as they want.  He’s a faithful kind a guy, which you don’t find too often here in Asbury Park, let me tell you.  Remember my last husband, Carl?  Carl the Crab we used to call him, because he was so cranky, the man was a walking grouch mobile.  

Yes, the one thought he was a real ladies man, but the ladies didn’t think so. LOL!  Yes, that’s the one died of a coronary in Thelma Overstreet’s bed. Thelma the Thyroid, we called her.  Though I think it was low thyroid she had.  They gave her hormone replacement therapy to cure it, but all it did was make her totally man-crazy, not that she wasn't anyway, now she was just fat and completely non-discriminating in her choice of men.  Lol!  Who else would have had Cranky Carl, especially with his middle-aged beer gut? Man, that guy turned into a porker. Who knew from Asbury Park JC?  He was BMOC, as they say in those days, but LOL, that wasn't saying much in old AP JC. What a dump!

Anyway, that Thelma.  You remember her?  You’d think she was on a diet of pure blubber.  Don’t remind me.  It was truly embarrassing. Even Carl the Crab would have died of humiliation if he’d seen himself, a beached whale on top of a overweight walrus.  Not a pretty picture and her whimpering until the paramedics could pry him off.   Well, he can rest in peace too.  I’ve never had much luck in the romance department, so this cute Iranian Dictator is a godsend.  And cyberdating is the best!  You should try it.  

And, Girlfriend, his IM's are seriously hot!  I bet they’re even hotter in the original Persian or whatever language they talk. I have to get the translated version, which I just know is toned down, right? But it’s still hot enough to make an Asbury Park girl blush.  

And you know Ami’s really getting treated unfairly.  It’s his last year as President, so you’d think they’d cut the guy a break.  But no, the so called reformers in his own Country are all over the dude, and the Americans keep talking about bombs.  Of course he wants the bomb, who doesn’t?  You have to defend yourself after all.  Ami’s no fool, I’m telling you. 

Oh, I know you think he’s hard on women. Like the fashion police. I got called out just last week for letting my midriff show.  They try to tell you if you’re over forty, keep it covered, but then they make all these skimpy tops and pants that don’t come up to your belly button, what can you do?  Yes, I know keeping the tummy covered isn’t like keeping the whole body covered. It must be hot in there. It is a desert after all.  So no, I’m not looking forward to moving to Iran anytime soon.  I don’t think I’d be happy as wife number two. Not with the first one still there and all.  

Listen Sadie, I gotta go, my main man’s on IM and I can’t chat any longer.  And no, I will NOT ask him to text me a picture of his ding-a –ling!!!  What, do you think, he’s just another horn dog like that Eliot Spitzer dude?

I hope you know that is an insult to the office of the Presidency of Iran, and to me personally.

Good bye Sadie,

Your ex-friend Madeline

We are all Veterans - A Personal Perspective

Now this might offend some people.  As we honor the men and women who put on a uniform to serve their country in foreign wars, let’s reflect on those who resist, who stand up for their principles of non-violence and take another path.  My husband is such a man. In the Vietnam War, he resisted being drafted, refusing more than once to take his physical when called to his small local draft board in Illinois.

He stated his beliefs as conscientious objector, and was punished by having his status rejected by the Board.  He joined forces with the Quakers, who took up his case and filed suit against the United States Government.  There was a man with principles.  

He won that case and went on to accept alternative service in the Chicago ghetto, working as a trained carpenter, teaching others skills that could help them get jobs and find their way out of a life of violence, drugs and despair.  

Violence found him, though, as bullets came flying through the window of the training center, a not uncommon occurrence, he was told by those who ran it. Violence was all around then, as it is now. 

In the time of Vietnam, I served with the New England Resistance, an organization who spoke out against the War and the draft, who counseled youth and who worked with enlisted men to open a dialogue on what the War meant to us, to them, to the small nation they were sent to ravage.

We helped those who took a public stand against the war machine, men who left the Military because they realized the war was wrong and they could no longer serve its cause.  These men took Sanctuary in local churches and did not resist when U.S Marshals in all their finery swept in to carry their limp bodies off to Federal prison.

We marched and protested; we chanted and we talked. We wrote articles and we counseled. We spoke at churches, schools and rallies.

One thing we did not do, as much as this urban myth persists today.  We never, ever spit on returning veterans.  We never treated those who served overseas with anything but the respect they deserved.  It was not the veterans who started the war; but it was they who suffered, who died and who were maimed, physically and mentally.  Who still to this day stand on street corners with signs around their necks asking for a little help, a little understanding.

Now they are joined by veterans of newer wars, Iraq I and II, Afghanistan.  The war on drugs, the class war the Republicans wage against poor people, sending jobs overseas and giving the fat cats fat payouts.

We are all veterans, today and everyday.  Veterans of a cynical America fighting wars foreign  and domestic.  

Scott Olsen, the Iraq War vet, who was struck on the head, suffering serious injuries from a flying police canister at the Occupy Oakland rally last week, took one for all of us.

6 Steps on Enduring a Loss

Article from Elect Women Magazine on "Oh, no I didn't win my election! Now what!" by Matt Lewis, originally  published in Campaigns and Elections  Falling Forward in Politics

Today, the stakes in political campaigns are high. It’s no surprise that in some cases, Election Day defeat can lead to depression and a loss of self-esteem.

Serious political candidates make major sacrifices involving family time and financial income just to take a chance of being a public servant. It’s easy to see how devastating a loss can be for anyone willing to be, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “the man in the arena.”

But candidates aren’t the only ones who sacrifice. The candidate’s spouse, children, and staffers also must endure the ups and downs of victory and defeat. Young campaign managers invest two years of their lives in a gamble that ends on Election Day. Even the winners have trouble adjusting to the normal pace of post-campaign life. And the losers feel as though they’ve lost a member of the family.

Few campaigners are prepared for this roller coaster ride. That’s why I’ve created this list…to help prepare you for the realities of political life…before you run.

What your campaign seminar didn’t teach you about winning and losing:

1. People in politics fear failure is a stigma – IT’S NOT.

James Baker ran for Attorney General of Texas in 1978…and lost. He managed George H.W. Bush’s Presidential campaign in 1980…and lost. But instead of giving up, he went on to become what many consider to be a top-notch Chief of Staff for Reagan – and even Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush. Here’s another revelation: Howard Dean wouldn’t have been DNC Chairman if it weren’t for his failed presidential campaign. As the late Senator Sam Ervin, Jr. once said, “Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.”

2. Take comfort that you are in the arena.

By getting involved in campaign politics, you have already proven to be an exceptional person. Average people rarely take chances, and thus have few failures and few successes. The fact that you failed at something means you were being aggressive. To use a sports analogy, the best hitters in baseball still get out seven-out-of-ten times. Sure, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but you’re still better than (as Theodore Roosevelt described them), “those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

3. Realize everybody loses.

In their book Buck Up, Suck Up…And Come Back When You Foul Up, James Carville and Paul Begala write, “Perseverance. Toughness. Tenacity. Those are the qualities that make the difference. Real winners know they’ve got to lose a lot.” Carville and Begala ought to know. They lost a lot of races in the old days, including suffering the worst defeat a Democrat had received in Texas history. Ironically, their careers were resurrected by Bob Casey, a man who was then thought of as one of the greatest failures in Pennsylvania political history. In truth, every single successful person is someone who failed, but never considered themselves a failure. Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime. Einstein was told by a teacher he would never amount to much. You should view this setback as a stepping stone on your way to the next victory.

4. Your campaign inspired future leaders.

Conservative icon Morton Blackwell says, “Don’t fully trust anyone until he has stuck with a good cause which he saw was losing.” That’s because sticking with a good cause that is losing says something about your character. Many of today’s best political leaders got their start working for losing campaigns. Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley started out working for Gary Hart (who was the manager for George McGovern’s failed Presidential bid). So that seventeen year-old kid who volunteered for your campaign could be governor some day. Think of it this way: would Ronald Reagan have been elected president if Barry Goldwater hadn’t run in 1964? Or consider Pat Robertson’s failed Presidential bid in 1988. Although he lost that election, his supporters (who were calling themselves the Christian Coalition by 1994) helped bring about the Republican Revolution. Not bad for a failed campaign. That’s what I call “failing forward!”

5. Your campaign brought issues to the forefront.

In 2000, John McCain lost the Republican Presidential Primary to George W. Bush. But, during the first Congressional legislative session to follow the election, campaign finance reform passed. Had McCain not run for office and made it his signature issue, it is doubtful campaign finance reform would have been passed – and signed – by President Bush.

6. You learned lessons that will help you win next time.

Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln all lost political campaigns before achieving their destiny. Reagan lost in 1976, but won in 1980. Churchill (who was turned out as Prime Minister after defeating the Nazis) persevered and became Prime Minister again. And every schoolchild knows the story of all the losses and hardships endured by Abraham Lincoln. These men became great because they had to endure what Churchill vividly referred to as his, “wilderness years.” On a lighter note, NBA coach Rick Pitino puts it this way: “Everything I’ve learned about coaching I’ve learned from making mistakes.”  By understanding these six principles, you will be on your way to realizing that failure is temporary. What makes the person isn’t whether or not you fail, but rather, how you handle adversity, and what you learn from it, that counts.