Powerstroke Rams and makin' Murika grate.

I saw something scary a couple days ago on my commute to work.

There was a giant RAM powerstroke truck. One of the big ones with the extended cab.

On the back window were some very troubling decals.

First there was a little decal that said 'Merica. I'm not kidding.

Then, there was an American flag made from bullets laid horizontally, with the stars made from bullet holes.

Finally, the piece de resistance...you know those decals of families? Where you have a little Dad, a little Mom, and several kids, all standing side by side decorating the rear window of a car? Well, this guy had the same decal except they were assault weapons. No kidding. I don't know the shapes of guns enough to identify them, but Dad seemed to be one of those assault weapons that has recently been used in mass shootings.

There were a whole bunch, too. All standing up in a nice little line - maybe 10 white-silhouetted guns on the decal.

So, I basically slowed down and let him get ahead.

Question submitted by PatrickforO

In these days of 'alternate facts,' and truth being shouted down, of

dollars being considered 'free speech,' and the very strong meme among about half of American that the government is bad, evil, the enemy, we are in very real danger of losing this republic.

I have become convinced over a number of years that we Democrats must add a Fairness Doctrine to our platform. Reagan let the old Fairness Doctrine die in 1987, and that caused the growth of corporate propaganda stations like Fox, Breitbart, numerous websites and hate-talk radio.

Obama said in the interview he did with Letterman earlier this year that our polarization is the result of not everyone operating from the same set of facts.

The cure for this is to get back the Fairness Doctrine and hold news sacrosanct from ratings so that journalists can once again report the facts surrounding events - who, what, when, where and how. When they get into why, then the different sides must be represented. Always.

When we got away from that, we positioned ourselves to enter the realm of 'alternative facts.' Remember that this phenomenon began with the election of Obama - you'd see Republicans go on talk shows and shout down everyone else, reject the facts and keep parroting talking points.

That's the root of this tribalism; the lack of a Fairness Doctrine.

And the root of the 'hardening' of the right-wing 'tribe' is corporate propaganda. The reason we have corporations pouring money into this propaganda and into organizations like ALEC is the way corporate charters are written.

These corporate charters call for the C-level officers of publicly held companies ONLY to increase earnings for shareholders. That is the ONLY job of any CEO of a publicly held company. It is called 'fiduciary responsibility.'

Look around. This fiduciary responsibility is the cause of the pollution that is killing our planet, the climate change denial, the merchants of doubt that are paid to cause us to doubt that things like fracking hurt the environment, the massive transfer of wealth to the few and the horrible corporate corruption created by the Citizens United ruling that dollars are 'free speech.' That is the root cause.

Two policy changes could ameliorate these problems:
1. Reinstate a 21st century Fairness Doctrine that operates like the old Fairness Doctrine did.
2. Force changes to all corporate charters of companies doing business in America to enlarge the scope of fiduciary responsibility to include the workers and their welfare, the consumers and their welfare, the well-being of the communities where the corporation is doing business and the environment.

Do these two things and we won't have 'hardening' tribalism any more, and we can start concentrating on building a government that actually addresses the needs of the people - economic and social justice.

Bernie/Hillary controversies and the (real) civil war.

Feeling my oats a little today, so this is a rant.

Everytime we get a post in here the encourages the Bernie supporters and Hillary supporters to snipe at each other, a whole bunch of people seem to rise to the bait. There are some really, really long threads with many people making good points. I've weighed in on these things more often than not, though not so much lately.

People do like to get in a last word about things the feel strongly about. It is our nature.

Personally I am quite progressive, and support Bernie's platform. Happily, many of the things he campaigned on are now in the Democratic platform if they weren't before, because a lot of them were all along. I know because I'm on my county's platform committee, and we just met yesterday post-caucus and post-county-assembly.

We need to remember first of all that come November, we need to vote straight Dem tickets. It's really come to that - we've got to get rid of these right wing crazies from all levels of government. Just roll over them at the polls. And, we need to flip both Houses of the US Congress.

When this is done, we need to impeach Trump and get rid of his whole corrupt, crooked, treasonous administration.

Then, when the right wing crazy 'militias' get their gunz out, put on their cammies and hit our streets with their filthy swastikas and brown shirts and faces contorted with hatred, we need to pressure the Dems we've elected to send in the Army and the National Guard and put them DOWN - either in prison or back under their rocks.

Because they are victims of right wing propaganda and nothing can change that. Many are fanatical true believers. That is why this IS gonna happen - it is quite likely to come to fighting before it is over.

So, let's work TOGETHER and take back our republic.

Only after this, should we argue about planks in the platform. And I'll introduce one right now that is VITAL. We need to reintroduce a 21st century version of the Fairness Doctrine to ensure that news is news and we all hear who, what, where, when and how. This way, we'll all be operating from the same set of facts, and the divisions will slowly heal.

In the meantime, for your amusement, and in honor of the Millennials and Gen Z:

I've got my clipboard, text books
Lead me to the station
Yeah, I'm off to the civil war
I've got my kit bag, my heavy boots
I'm runnin' in the rain
Gonna run till my feet are raw

Slip kid, slip kid, second generation
And I'm a soldier at thirteen
Slip kid, slip kid, realization
There's no easy way to be free
No easy way to be free
It's a hard, hard world

I left my doctor's prescription bungalow behind me
I left the door ajar
I left my vacuum flask
Full of hot tea and sugar
Left the keys right in my car

Slip kid, slip kid, second generation
Only half way up the tree
Slip kid, slip kid, I'm a relation
I'm a soldier at sixty-three
No easy way to be free
Slip kid, slip kid

Keep away old man, you won't fool me
You and your history won't rule me
You might have been a fighter, but admit you failed
I'm not affected by your blackmail
You won't blackmail me

I've got my clipboard, text books
Lead me to the station
Yeah, I'm off to the civil war
I've got my kit bag, my heavy boots
I'm runnin' in the rain
Gonna run till my feet are raw

Slip kid, slip kid, slip out of trouble
Slip over here and set me free
Slip kid, slip kid, second generation
You're slidin' down the hill like me

No easy way to be free
No easy way to be free
No easy way to be free

Slip Kid, by the Who
Songwriter: Pete Townshend