That is what I keep telling myself.

http://jackpineradicals.org/content.php

At least once a day...

toolbars menu. Where I can find it easily as I'm getting wore out with some of the stuff that goes on here of late.

Sorry but thats just the way it is.

I think you will be refreshed there.

with all his videos on YouTube, saved my life, literally.

Bernie and we as his supporters have done that. Yes, if Hillary gets the nom she'll race back to the center. But it was clear to the Hillary camp that the party was hungry for his message. It's why she appropriated it- which worked.

They may win the nomination, but a populist message has taken hold in this country- on both sides. And candidates have lost their party's nomination before and won the battle for its hearts and mind (think Reagan in '76) Every tool in the Clinton machine's and DNC's toolbox was used to stop Bernie and his supporters and he still has the support of nearly half the party. We can get candidates into congress who share his vision- which may be more important than the Presidency. And young people are very drawn to his message- which means time is on our side- yes it is.

I'm not so convinced the progressive message will stick. In fact, my fear is net neutrality back on the table. The establishment will put a stop to future Bernies. I believe that. This was our chance. Such leaders are rare.

The better Bernie Sanders does, even if he doesn't get the nomination, the more likely it is that a candidate in the future will follow his example.

The millenials are generally liberal, and more of them will be of voting age in four years and thereafter.

Bernie Sanders is facing a double-challenge in Hillary Clinton: an extremely famous opponent, and the yearning some voters have to elect the first female president.

Maybe the next candidate who shares Bernie Sanders' values-Single Payer healthcare, free tuition, marijuana legalization, no death penalty, no mandatory minimums, more generous Social Security, seeking peace, etc.-won't have that challenge.

I hope Bernie Sanders will be the nominee, but he's accomplishing something with his campaign either way.

The future of this country is supporting Bernie in the young people. A lot can happen between now and July.

When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.
-Dmitri Shostakovich

...but not hopelessness.

nearly-incorruptible public servant and a corporatist who helped send some of my friends and relatives (and everyone else’s) to Iraq"

DerekG

I do not think that is really the whole story here.

When I was growing up, media was supposed to be the great arbiter of democracy. They sure haven't done that in the Sanders-Clinton contest. As a result, America really wasn't given a choice between Clinton and Sanders.

Sanders and his position was almost non existent on the mainstream media in 2015 - relative to the other significant candidates. And Hillary was allowed to do what she does a lot: lie and deceive without really being called out much on it. And even after being called out on it, it wasn't enough to discourage her from continuing to do it.

I do not think enough Americans got to understand what Bernie was about or his policies. And I don't think Americans were informed of all of the deceptions by the Clinton campaign - particularly about what Bernie stood for. In a lot of places in America, the media didn't provide a fair choice between the two candidates.

Look at the disgraceful corruption of the DNC.

I have felt throughout my life that when the American people were properly informed, they've come down on the side of right handily every time. It's when they're lied to without consequence about, for example the Iraq war or in this campaign, that they make questionable choices.

I think what Bernie stood for should give you hope. The people who came to understand him supported him enthusiastically. There's a lot of them who will never give it up. I'm willing to bet the majority of folks on this site. As Obama said, and someone posted to remind us today, "We are the change we are looking for". We have to dust ourselves off when we get knocked down, get back up and keep fighting.

Whether it's women's right to vote, Dr. King's civil rights, gay marriage (fight still going), etc - nobody was willing to hand those things out. People had to come together and fight for them... a "Political Revolution" ... for lack of a better term

Don't forget all the crowds that came out to cheer Bernie on or the millions who have voted for him or will vote for him. Those people are some of your neighbors too.

The short answer to your question: people like you DerekG give me hope.

Me personally, every time I visited San Diego Sea World was on the top of my to-do list.

Then the movie Blackfish came out. The dirty secrets of Sea World were exposed to the world.
In turn, Sea World has seen a decline in visitors, and just this past week they announced that they are going to be phasing out their Killer Whale show.

There was a movement, and in the end the movement won.

Apply this animal rights story to any other human rights stories to the end of Apartheid, Slavery, Women voting, LGBT rights....etc.

Bernie has started a movement to take America back away from the corporations and back into the hands of the people.
Whether Bernie wins is irrelevant (altho it will be so much easier if he did, we need him to win), this movement is not going away.
That is the reason why his rallies are so big. He is inspiring 1000s & 1000s of Americans. He is explaining how to make America the country we all believe it is. He has planted the seeds of fairness into so many people all across this country.
We have just begun. You just have to believe, stay focused & be involved. We are fighting for the future. And in the end, this movement too will win.

turn off your TV. The corporate controlled media will not give you a straight answer about this election. We are still in good shape and going into our best states. It is not over. Check out this Hillary thread and you will see that they know this is not over too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110778844

he probably won't get the nomination, but he's been incredibly successful nonetheless. his message has reached millions and resonated. at the convention, he and his delegates will have a big part in drafting the Democratic party platform. he's proven that a person can run a credible major-party campaign free of SuperPAC lobbyists. additionally, Sen. Sanders endorsement is going to carry a lot of weight for the rest of his life, and everyone is going to want his donor list.

in the coming years of centrist Democratic party dominance, his influence is going to go a lot further toward getting policy concessions for the underrepresented left than damn near anything else. i think he understands this, and as long as he keeps his movement going, as long as he's willing to keep touring with his barn-burner speeches, young people with dreams of a better future will listen to him, join the Democratic party, and try in their own small way to influence the process. in the long run, progressive values will win, Democrats will win, and America will win.

full disclosure: i'm not exactly a Bernie supporter, but i greatly appreciate what he's done for the Democratic party in this election.

Be well, think happy thoughts.

You should be concerned and remember where you are right now. The only question is; what are you going to do about it? Some of us work toward technological progress. Knowledge is power and can be used to make old ideas obsolete.

27 years in prison, and in the end -- he won. He emerged as a man of such immense grace and compassion and wisdom.

If Nelson Mandela can win, there is always hope that we can, too.

My neighbors sound like yours and I'm stuck next to them. My deepest regret is that I have had to raise my two kids next to these people. You are not alone. The only thing that gives me the strength to get through the day is the knowledge that i have to, for them.

Labor Movement give me concrete evidence that this can happen, did happen, and will happen again. I also like to get encouragement from the Millennials. When they see an injustice they fight it, and they are not party loyalists. They hold both parties accountable. I don't know if Bernie will win this election, but I do believe the people are waking up. It may take time and even when the people do wake up it will take a long, hard fight against those that hold the power and money. They will not give up that power without a fight. So, yes, please get hope and strength wherever you can because we will all need it.

Goldwater couldn't "get the job done", but laid the groundwork for the "Reagan revolution".

If the worst comes to pass, Sanders is likely doing the same thing.

In addition, Clinton's success is primarily among older voters. She's getting demolished among voters under 40. Those older voters will be dropping out of the electorate.

Which means while we are in for a lot of short-term pain, a lot more wars, a lot more doing nothing about climate change, and a lot more bad policy, we will eventually win.

Just a couple examples, one public and one personal.

I always remember what Dr. Martin Luther King said about the status of blacks in America:

That's an important perspective. The civil rights movement made real progress, which has continued since Dr. King's death.

From my own life: When I had cancer, my oncologist told me that, just a few decades earlier, the treatment for what I had consisted of giving the patient morphine to ease his final days. He told me that 15 years ago. Here I still am. I hope you never get cancer, but, hey, even if you just need a cavity filled you'll get anesthesia, which the richest person in the world couldn't get 200 years ago. You won't die of smallpox or bubonic plague. Sure, we ought to have single payer, but even without it, Americans' medical situation is better than it's ever been.

Hang in there!

"She tried to have hope and trust, though it was hard to believe that the future would be anything else than the harvest of the seed that was being sown before her eyes. but always there is seed being sown silently and unseen, and everywhere there come sweet flowers without our foresight or labour. We reap what we sow, but Nature has love over and above that justice, and gives us shadow and blossom and fruit that spring from no planting of ours."

-Elliot's Scenes of Clerical Life



I know it probably doesn't help, different things for different people, but I put it out there because it has helped me before when I feel like I need hope.

You know, the world continues to become more liberal. The whole world. Yes, it has a long way to go, but in the ME we saw the Arab Spring, in India we see the rise of women's rights, in South Africa we see the painful birth of a modern liberal nation. All over the world, the trend has been towards less tolerance of violence and more justice. In places like Rwanda we see liberal reform. Even in places like Iran we hopeful steps being taken. The UN has successfully fought many diseases, most recently Ebola. The lifespan in most places in the world is much longer than it once was.

In the US, the Vietnam War did not end until more than 60,000 Americans had died, but we had enough in Iraq after only 4,500 Americans had died. In The US, despite the power of the right wing, we've seen a consistent trend -- ending slavery, the women's vote, civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, and now transgender right. We've seen virtually every liberal reform take hold in some form, from the end of child labor to the 40 hour work week to Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid to minimum wage to public college. We've seen environmental issues take center stage, vastly improved treatment for mental health, a far more compassionate approach to treating drug addiction, and now a movement that is resulting in many places in major reform of police departments. The fact is conservatives almost always lose. They may slow the tide of change, but they never stop it. Yes, among the billions of people there is way too much exploitation and abuse, but we are winning the battle. We won't win in my lifetime or in yours in in the lifetimes of your great great grandchildren, but we are winning. Human rights is a long and difficult battle, but we are making progress.

As far as your drug dealers next door, may I suggest you try contacting the Mayor's office or your congressperson's office to see if they can help.

The Myth of Sisyphus
by Albert Camus

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Egina, the daughter of Esopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Esopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.

It is said that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, lead him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.

You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth. Nothing is told us about Sisyphus in the underworld. Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them. As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward tlower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain.

It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.

If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that can not be surmounted by scorn.

If the descent is thus sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy. This word is not too much. Again I fancy Sisyphus returning toward his rock, and the sorrow was in the beginning. When the images of earth cling too tightly to memory, when the call of happiness becomes too insistent, it happens that melancholy arises in man's heart: this is the rock's victory, this is the rock itself. The boundless grief is too heavy to bear. These are our nights of Gethsemane. But crushing truths perish from being acknowledged. Thus, Edipus at the outset obeys fate without knowing it. But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins. Yet at the same moment, blind and desperate, he realizes that the only bond linking him to the world is the cool hand of a girl. Then a tremendous remark rings out: "Despite so many ordeals, my advanced age and the nobility of my soul make me conclude that all is well." Sophocles' Edipus, like Dostoevsky's Kirilov, thus gives the recipe for the absurd victory. Ancient wisdom confirms modern heroism.

One does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of happiness. "What!---by such narrow ways--?" There is but one world, however. Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable. It would be a mistake to say that happiness necessarily springs from the absurd. Discovery. It happens as well that the felling of the absurd springs from happiness. "I conclude that all is well," says Edipus, and that remark is sacred. It echoes in the wild and limited universe of man. It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile suffering. It makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men.

All Sisyphus' silent joy is contained therein. His fate belongs to him. His rock is a thing. Likewise, the absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols. In the universe suddenly restored to its silence, the myriad wondering little voices of the earth rise up. Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse and price of victory. There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night. The absurd man says yes and his efforts will henceforth be unceasing. If there is a personal fate, there is no higher destiny, or at least there is, but one which he concludes is inevitable and despicable. For the rest, he knows himself to be the master of his days. At that subtle moment when man glances backward over his life, Sisyphus returning toward his rock, in that slight pivoting he contemplates that series of unrelated actions which become his fate, created by him, combined under his memory's eye and soon sealed by his death. Thus, convinced of the wholly human origin of all that is human, a blind man eager to see who knows that the night has no end, he is still on the go. The rock is still rolling.

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

I think the democratic party is imploding like the republican party, it's just a couple of cycles behind. We are witnessing realignment of the political parties.

is being protected by the police or the "powers that be" at some level. They deal too. They only bust the competition.

For inspiration, I find it in a lot of things but one that might be helpful to you is the quotes of Winston Churchill and/or maybe one of his bios. That man was certainly up against it, and prevailed (look up some film on the Battle of Britain and see). There are so many great quotes of his, a few examples...

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves. (The Gathering Storm, pg. 348)

"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender".

"Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never -- in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense".

“We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy.”


Of course I'm big on FDR as well. What a remarkable life, and he's very inspirational.


Another thing I posted here few days ago because events lately brought it to mind, the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!


Another pick-me-up is music. This is a song I like for that, it's by Bruce Springsteen, written for the first responders of 9/11: "The Rising".

"Let the Day Begin", The Call




U2, impromptu live video shoot in LA "Where the Streets Have No Name"




I love this guy! I watch this from time to time because it's so cool... Free Hugs official viddo, music "All the Same" by Sick Puppies




A flash mob at Banco Sabadell (I'll leave it at that, not to give it away)




The biggest thing I lean on to get me through is my faith. CARM (dot) org is a good place if info is wanted.

Hang in there, DerekG. It was no picnic during many of our past national moments (I'm 66 and I've seen a few), but the main thing is what the Brits say, "Keep calm and carry on". It really does help just to do that sometimes -- take it one day at a time, one foot in front of the other. "This too will pass" is very true too, everything does. The one thing we know is certain -- change. Try to look for the good, in general. No matter how small, there's always some to be found.




This is for all of us, who try to make life better for everyone, and try to reason with people to accomplish that, and often get kicked in the teeth for it... that isn't unusual. We should all take a lesson from Bernie and refuse to be discouraged from continuing to do whatever we can that is positive. That guy is a good example to us, he just doesn't give up -- ever.

"Vincent", (Don McLean)



A random anecdote...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511474266#post34