tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post8524804702290466775..comments2024-03-29T05:23:06.618-04:00Comments on Ramona's Voices: Attention: The job opening is for POTUS. Dilettantes need not apply.Ramona Grigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160614050077886238noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-61876247266089183512011-12-29T17:47:03.581-05:002011-12-29T17:47:03.581-05:00Ha ha, Beth. This may go down in history as the m...Ha ha, Beth. This may go down in history as the most embarrassing candidate roster in the history of the U.S. What a bunch. I would laugh a lot except I know what's coming: Millions of Republicans will pretend that what they have there is star material and they'll actually vote for them.<br /><br />It's a crazy world when the very people who are already getting shafted the most by those nuts will forget everything and side with them against the ones who actually might do something good.<br /><br />Heaven forbid anyone actually suggests working FOR the people instead of against them.Ramona Grigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07160614050077886238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-82343325631918814542011-12-29T17:01:41.687-05:002011-12-29T17:01:41.687-05:00I'm already experiencing a bit of voter fatigu...I'm already experiencing a bit of voter fatigue with these Repub candidates. I chalk it up to having a stupidity threshold. I can only take so much, and these yahoos have given me my fill. At least the end is in sight. We should ditch at least a couple of them after Iowa.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05149068921334726430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-22865569698252855552011-12-29T09:20:28.349-05:002011-12-29T09:20:28.349-05:00Welcome, Crying Liberty. And thanks for mentionin...Welcome, Crying Liberty. And thanks for mentioning Eclectablog. Chris does a superb job of trying to keep 'em honest in Michigan.<br /><br />I'm ever the optimist (well, maybe not ever!) so I'm hoping 2012 will be the year everyone will come to their senses and finally work at really, truly rebuilding this wreckage of a once-proud country.<br /><br />Making sure we elect leaders who are actually grown-ups would be a start.Ramona Grigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07160614050077886238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-18970408974159599252011-12-28T03:46:24.269-05:002011-12-28T03:46:24.269-05:00Ramona, this is an outstanding post - and hello by...Ramona, this is an outstanding post - and hello by way of Eclectablog.<br /><br />I'm not old enough to remember FDR, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, or even Carter, but I can read a lot of history about them, and from everything I've read, I can see a marked difference even from the way even Nixon handled the Presidency to how Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II have handled things. <br /><br />It is utterly disgusting how our political process has degenerated into little more than namecalling, childish bullying, and schoolyard antics than actual governance, and the way in which our elected representatives behave is scarcely better than poorly-reared children at this point.Crying Libertyhttp://disqus.com/cryingliberty/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-15695874456766822962011-12-22T12:03:21.449-05:002011-12-22T12:03:21.449-05:00Anne, you're right. For our grandkids' sa...Anne, you're right. For our grandkids' sake we have to keep working at it. Seems to me I do remember reasonable Republicans, and it sounds like your family might have been in that minority?<br /><br />Thanks for commenting here. I've been following your writing for a long time and appreciate that you took the time to come over here and join in.<br /><br />I just read your piece on procrastinating and yes, I can relate! I do like to change where I'm writing but it's getting harder and harder to concentrate with distractions. I have a hard time working in a public place, but I always carry a notebook, just in case. Drinking more water is a new one, and one I'll try.<br /><br />I'm an expert at procrastinating, and worked best when I had an editorial deadline. Now I often have to push myself to get two posts out a week, but the best way to start is, as you said, just to start. One sentence at a time.<br /><br />I'm including the link to your post for anyone else who needs a little push:<br />http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/2011/12/10-ways-freelance-writers-stop-procrastinating-and-start-writing-again/Ramona Grigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07160614050077886238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-53940528207991504572011-12-22T11:52:05.895-05:002011-12-22T11:52:05.895-05:00Fiddlin' Bill, the Right's efforts to stop...Fiddlin' Bill, the Right's efforts to stop voters from voting seem just insane in a democracy, but they're working hard to destroy anything resembling a democracy so I guess it's not so odd. The fact that they can convince so many people of the rightness of their Right Wing madness is truly odd. It's what keeps us doing what we're doing. We just have to outshout them and outlast them. I'm game if everyone else is.Ramona Grigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07160614050077886238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-1350920838801765322011-12-22T11:10:41.527-05:002011-12-22T11:10:41.527-05:00My first election was Eisenhower's first - I w...My first election was Eisenhower's first - I was in 5th grade in a political (old style republican) family that talked politics over dinner - remember conversations without tv?<br /><br />I was brought up to believe it was better to be dead than red - and have evolved to be close to a screaming liberal.<br /><br />I too remember we used to have presidents we had respect for, even when we disagreed with them. I remember when campaigns weren't mud slinging fests and I remember when corporations weren't considered people and couldn't throw unlimited money into whatever campaign would help them make the most profit.<br /><br />I fear for my grand kids... and for the planet and am shocked at how often I'm actually embarrassed to be an American these days. <br /><br />Meanwhile I sign more petitions, contribute where and when I can and hope.<br /><br />Thanks for this.Anne Waymanhttp://aboutfreelancewriting.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-25826636224964764272011-12-18T09:28:40.573-05:002011-12-18T09:28:40.573-05:00I think the GOP, starting with Reagan, decided tha...I think the GOP, starting with Reagan, decided that the Presidency was not a serious position with real power, but the job for a salesman. GWB defined the job as simply a bipolar lightswitch--ON/OFF--the deciderer. Dems sill look for competence, vision, and expect the President to have ideas and comprehension. At least relatively. So--in my view--the clown show on the GOP side is actually a contest for the office as the GOP understands it. All this follows from the fact that the GOP distrusts and distains democracy--thus all the new state laws aimed at disenfranchising voters.Fiddlin Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08083633111240927563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-82452595676291504292011-12-15T08:02:03.241-05:002011-12-15T08:02:03.241-05:00Glad to have you weigh in, Kitti. I was hoping it...Glad to have you weigh in, Kitti. I was hoping it wasn't just my imagination that, as a nation, we took the presidency more seriously way back then. We've seen some odd candidates before (Wallace, Perot, David Duke) but this Republican bunch really takes the cake. If it wasn't so funny it would be downright scary.<br /><br />Eric, I had to laugh at your "first public act of reading" at 3 1/2. Precocious! I don't know what's going on anymore, but maybe it just comes down to who in their right mind would want to be president today? <br /><br />Thanks, Anon. And welcome.Ramona Grigghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07160614050077886238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-14904077385090037232011-12-14T13:18:28.625-05:002011-12-14T13:18:28.625-05:00This is a very good post. Thank you.This is a very good post. Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-16771789432262082392011-12-14T12:19:57.948-05:002011-12-14T12:19:57.948-05:00I was born four minutes before Eisenhower took his...I was born four minutes before Eisenhower took his second oath of office, but the first president I was ever really aware of was JFK (my first public act of reading was the headline that Kennedy had won the Democratic nomination; I was three and a half in the days before Sesame Street). His successors, Johnson and Nixon, proved deceitful in matters related to Vietnam and official conduct. Like you, I feel as if I am a member of the last generation who ever in their lives had the feeling that we could trust our elected officials and that the president was someone deserving of our respect and support.E.A. Blairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12746875547810750519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2772956368752433326.post-77676480560466325572011-12-14T06:53:42.560-05:002011-12-14T06:53:42.560-05:00I too grew up during the FDR administration, and l...I too grew up during the FDR administration, and like you, I revered him and felt safe when he spoke. My father had voted in each of his elections for his opponent, and I felt troubled that he didn't feel as I did. The first time I voted was in 1948, and I stayed awake listening to the radio coverage until I heard that Truman had won. So, my views of the ensuing Presidents have been of disappointment in their inadequacy. Not until JFK did I feel the same about a President as I had felt about FDR...I agree that the clowns behind the podium are not fit for the office they seek, have not the humanity or the intelligence for the job.Though Obama has made mistakes in his first term, they were made on the side of human empathy and careful consideration and I believe that the progress he has made is admirable. Should he have addressed the problem of joblessness before he tackled health care, and while he still had a marginal majority in the Senate? I believe he should have, but he did not expect the hatred and obnoxious response he got from those with whom he attempted compromise. He thought they were honest and wanted the best for the country. He was wrong. I might have been a little older than you were, because I remember hearing ugly references to FDR on the radio...he was almost as hated as is Barack Obama, and he wasn't even black.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17089499544970290116noreply@blogger.com