YES she can, Yes America can.........hoping down here in NZ for America, maybe the rebirth of the dream, the hope and experiment of America, but this time without the ra ra and a heart. I truly hope that, a reflective movement and administration...........not the same old smae old that has got us here, and is worn out. I say us, because maybe not as much as Americans think, the world, the one out there beyond the world series..............that world is better with a better America. And if we dare to be honest, what we see with tRump and Maga as the ugly side that has always been there.............what we see with Harris/Walz is the reformation, the revolution for a new America perhaps..........joy, vision, the best kind of patriotism (not the blind kind), hope and kindness................for you America, I want that, and for the world........I want that. Please do it.
awesome Marilyn...........and from the bottom of the earth I have caught a vision of America that has me hopeful and excited.....................we can't go back...........and in saying that I humbly join with you in that energy and excitement for change.........we have similar shite in NZ with our coalition government. They need to be thrown out........lots of parallels...................I hope we rise like you have and we say......not going back............since several of the NZ parties campaigned on....getting back on track...............left was doing fine...........NZ went right. Undid lots of good things............many kiwis dont want to go back too. Sorry for the words......but what is happening in USA impacts the world......
“What is happening in USA impacts the world…” That’s a sentiment that Americans have ever really absorbed. Anecdote: Long ago in a US presidential primary season far away (March 1987), a remarkable chef & co-owner of a lovely fishing lodge on the North Island asked me if I thought Bill Bradley might become the Democrats’ nominee. By then I had voted in 4 US presidential elections; I thought I was pretty much a complete adult; & I had no clue of even the name of NZ’s prime minister. I learned so much on that trip, and others, of how effing (and, easily argued, unfairly) powerful the US is in the world — we can close down NZ’s export to us (& likely others) of butter (or lamb or wool) & make front-page headlines in Wellington, and we in the US do not hear the least whisper.
Thank you for your posts here — I keep up some with NZ politics but have found the past few years murky, hard to get a handle on the why behind what’s been going on. Again — something NZ & the US have in common.
thank you mate.......theres definitely commonality at the moment with the politic words we hear like, housing, cost of living, tax cuts...............it's really sad, for us...but hopefully not for America....that a government with heart may continue with Harris and Walz. The twat coalition government campaigned on these issues last Nov, got elected and have railroaded and slashed good initaitives and helped the rich and land lords and given pathetic tax cuts that they blooody minded applied even if borrowing 13 billion or so to deliver...............so RW it is murky.........here but other bits are clear as day........as is the choice from afar for America. Hope its not a go back..............thang.............and one aspect of that renegade Kennedy joining trumps ticket..............it pours petrol on the 'weird' about the GOPs ticket.......and adds an exponent to what 'weird' means in this context. For wierd it truly is. Namaste RW and thanks for your kind words.
I, too, am overcome with this week of intelligent speakers from all across AmericaTOPPED OFF with one of the greatest orators whose speech will stand up against the greats of the Democratic Party
Wow, obviously Kamala has attended the Michelle Obama school of oratory! She spoke with a lot of heart and humanity. This is the spirit our nation has been longing for and, yes, gives me hope.
I liked the way she took the high road when she mentioned Trump's fraud convictions. She didn't mention Stormy Daniels or the other women involved or even that it was surrounding the 2016 election. She just mentioned the important part. 34 counts of fraud. Just the facts.
Yes, Kamala Harris met the moment by crossing the divide into an aura fitting of the presidency. I hoped for a bit more policy in her speech. But as you say Elliott, she succeeded at the main objectives of telling us who and what shaped her into the person she is today, her values, and the vision of America and the presidency she holds dear. Now, we must do our part by not only working to hand her a victory in November, but also holding the Senate and regaining the House for the Democrats so she can chart the new way forward she talked about a reality..
A friend and I have been discussing the goals Kamala has for the economy. I thought you might like to read some thoughts we shared.
Since the economy is at the innermost core of a society, being served by everything, and thus expected to nurture everything in return, there is probably a hierarchy of goals. The top goal of government policy has to be to increase potential (every other goal is a sub set of potential increase): Increase opportunity & Generate patterns others can follow, are probably the next level down. Third down level is probably stabilizing markets, promoting economic prosperity, ensuring business development, and promoting employment. Then Education, Law Enforcement, Regulating Trade... This is just off the top of my head, I’d have to spend time thinking about it more.
The way potential is increased, the tools used, are determined by what are the essential skills/resources available/values/needing/wanting to be expressed by the whole of the country… then using that to make things work as one integrated unit towards improving and being better. Essence & Able to work as a whole might be on the same hierarchical level as Opportunity & Pattern generation. I’d have to think more.
We watched VP Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech with friends at a Democratic Watch Party. I kept thinking, I was fearful after Hillary Clinton lost her bid that I would never live to see a woman president, but tonight I felt hopeful, joyful, and motivated to do everything in my power to get people out to vote and to encourage them to vote for Harris and Walz. I believe I will soon see a woman as our next president.
At the risk of being boring, let we say again this is not a choice between a woman and a man. She's a woman and he's a man. Flip a coin. The real choice for voters is between decency and obscenity, lawful and crooked, intelligent and stupid, sane and crazy, competent and demented, energetic and lazy, for the workers and for the rich, well apprenticed to one of the best U.S. presidents ever and totally qualified to be a game show host. Please focus on the characteristics that matter.
I agree with the intention of your statement. And yet, as a little girl in the 1960s, I remember being with my step-grandpa and his buddies as they met for their morning coffee at Red Ford’s Cafe. I remember listening to them talk, as they discussed the weather, farming, hunting, and always politics. I remember being asked what do you want to be when you grow up. I remember clearly and proudly saying, “I want to be a lawyer, and then Senator.”
I remember the laughter! I remember the embarrassment and the hurt. And I will always remember their response, “no, honey you marry a lawyer, you become a nurse or a teacher and you take care of your family.”
By saying that, they not only tried to diminish me, they belittled the professions of teaching and nursing, and said that a female was only made for giving birth.
Part of a person’s right to choose, is to have autonomy over the direction of their lives, as well as control over their bodies.
So yes, I take great pride and joy in the fact that Kamala Harris is a woman, and that the dream of the little girl that was me is being vindicated. I will, in January 2025, be celebrating both the woman she is, and the little girl she was.
Just so you know I didn’t become a lawyer, nor did I become Senator. I did have children. I did become a public service faculty member at a large university, and focused my career on making sure everyone had the opportunity to live the way they chose.
Your step-grandpa's crew wouldn't be able to say such things out loud, in public, today. They would be greeted with odd stares, that winding motion near the ear and some giggling, or the occasional bucket of cold water. Times have changed, isn't it great! The problem with pointing to the sex of a candidate rests in voters' reactions. Those who agree give you a high-five, but they were already voting for Kamala; those who disagree, silently think, "you're right, she's a woman, it'd be safer to vote for a man." Most of us would rather win than rub the oppositions nose in their mistakes.
True, not everyone has kept up with the changing times, but as an academic you are obligated to help them make a sane voting choice. Now you're pointing at a candidate, wouldn't you rather give everyone a president for your role model? Vote Harris/Walz.
I can't remember who it was, but one of the male speakers at the convention got the word "first" out and then obviously stifled it mid-sentence. I could be wrong, but I suspect he was told that Harris is the best qualified candidate period. She doesn't want to run on being a woman.
Your words are like an outpouring of sunshine, flowing across the floor of a large room. I missed Kamala’s speech, but this evening I caught up with those of Michelle Obama, VP-to-be Walls, and Pete Buttigieg. Great candidates and leaders all, and I smiled from ear to ear, reassured by their collective intelligence, their progressive outlook, and their energy. How fortunate it is that we have these minds and these personalities working for us and our country.
Watched Kamala's acceptance speech from Perth Western Australia as a dual citizen. She hit the high notes and delivered an inspiring speech that clearly came straight from her heart. I have hope that democracy-loving Americans will see her for all of the wonderful potential she has to release us at last from the dystopian vision and rhetoric of Donald J. Trump. I think Americans all over are ready for a new start that will have us looking forward toward the future with some optimism rather than dread. My hope is that people from all walks of life will rally behind her and she will indeed be Madame President.
You topped the speech with the cherry it deserved. Thank you Dems for an amazing DNC of Hope and Joy. And thank you Elliot for expressing what so many feel.
Now it is our turn, to get her across the finish line.
YES she can, Yes America can.........hoping down here in NZ for America, maybe the rebirth of the dream, the hope and experiment of America, but this time without the ra ra and a heart. I truly hope that, a reflective movement and administration...........not the same old smae old that has got us here, and is worn out. I say us, because maybe not as much as Americans think, the world, the one out there beyond the world series..............that world is better with a better America. And if we dare to be honest, what we see with tRump and Maga as the ugly side that has always been there.............what we see with Harris/Walz is the reformation, the revolution for a new America perhaps..........joy, vision, the best kind of patriotism (not the blind kind), hope and kindness................for you America, I want that, and for the world........I want that. Please do it.
We’re DOING SOMETHING! My senior group is writing postcards….part of a larger group. WE CANT GO BACK
awesome Marilyn...........and from the bottom of the earth I have caught a vision of America that has me hopeful and excited.....................we can't go back...........and in saying that I humbly join with you in that energy and excitement for change.........we have similar shite in NZ with our coalition government. They need to be thrown out........lots of parallels...................I hope we rise like you have and we say......not going back............since several of the NZ parties campaigned on....getting back on track...............left was doing fine...........NZ went right. Undid lots of good things............many kiwis dont want to go back too. Sorry for the words......but what is happening in USA impacts the world......
“What is happening in USA impacts the world…” That’s a sentiment that Americans have ever really absorbed. Anecdote: Long ago in a US presidential primary season far away (March 1987), a remarkable chef & co-owner of a lovely fishing lodge on the North Island asked me if I thought Bill Bradley might become the Democrats’ nominee. By then I had voted in 4 US presidential elections; I thought I was pretty much a complete adult; & I had no clue of even the name of NZ’s prime minister. I learned so much on that trip, and others, of how effing (and, easily argued, unfairly) powerful the US is in the world — we can close down NZ’s export to us (& likely others) of butter (or lamb or wool) & make front-page headlines in Wellington, and we in the US do not hear the least whisper.
Thank you for your posts here — I keep up some with NZ politics but have found the past few years murky, hard to get a handle on the why behind what’s been going on. Again — something NZ & the US have in common.
^* Americans have never really absorbed.
thank you mate.......theres definitely commonality at the moment with the politic words we hear like, housing, cost of living, tax cuts...............it's really sad, for us...but hopefully not for America....that a government with heart may continue with Harris and Walz. The twat coalition government campaigned on these issues last Nov, got elected and have railroaded and slashed good initaitives and helped the rich and land lords and given pathetic tax cuts that they blooody minded applied even if borrowing 13 billion or so to deliver...............so RW it is murky.........here but other bits are clear as day........as is the choice from afar for America. Hope its not a go back..............thang.............and one aspect of that renegade Kennedy joining trumps ticket..............it pours petrol on the 'weird' about the GOPs ticket.......and adds an exponent to what 'weird' means in this context. For wierd it truly is. Namaste RW and thanks for your kind words.
🤗
Great Idea!!
I, too, am overcome with this week of intelligent speakers from all across AmericaTOPPED OFF with one of the greatest orators whose speech will stand up against the greats of the Democratic Party
Fantastic! The image of America I saw on display this week is the America I believe in.
Here. Here!
She really stepped into her power and rose to the occasion! She will be a strong and dynamic leader. 🇺🇸
Wow, obviously Kamala has attended the Michelle Obama school of oratory! She spoke with a lot of heart and humanity. This is the spirit our nation has been longing for and, yes, gives me hope.
I liked the way she took the high road when she mentioned Trump's fraud convictions. She didn't mention Stormy Daniels or the other women involved or even that it was surrounding the 2016 election. She just mentioned the important part. 34 counts of fraud. Just the facts.
More I see, more I hear, more I like.
Yes, Kamala Harris met the moment by crossing the divide into an aura fitting of the presidency. I hoped for a bit more policy in her speech. But as you say Elliott, she succeeded at the main objectives of telling us who and what shaped her into the person she is today, her values, and the vision of America and the presidency she holds dear. Now, we must do our part by not only working to hand her a victory in November, but also holding the Senate and regaining the House for the Democrats so she can chart the new way forward she talked about a reality..
Wonderful speech. Wonderful convention. What a battle lies ahead. I have hope. Let’s do.
Well said 🩵
A friend and I have been discussing the goals Kamala has for the economy. I thought you might like to read some thoughts we shared.
Since the economy is at the innermost core of a society, being served by everything, and thus expected to nurture everything in return, there is probably a hierarchy of goals. The top goal of government policy has to be to increase potential (every other goal is a sub set of potential increase): Increase opportunity & Generate patterns others can follow, are probably the next level down. Third down level is probably stabilizing markets, promoting economic prosperity, ensuring business development, and promoting employment. Then Education, Law Enforcement, Regulating Trade... This is just off the top of my head, I’d have to spend time thinking about it more.
The way potential is increased, the tools used, are determined by what are the essential skills/resources available/values/needing/wanting to be expressed by the whole of the country… then using that to make things work as one integrated unit towards improving and being better. Essence & Able to work as a whole might be on the same hierarchical level as Opportunity & Pattern generation. I’d have to think more.
---------Works as One Country
Opportunity--------->Generate patterns
---------Essence of who we are
Kamala hit them all, pitch perfect!
We watched VP Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech with friends at a Democratic Watch Party. I kept thinking, I was fearful after Hillary Clinton lost her bid that I would never live to see a woman president, but tonight I felt hopeful, joyful, and motivated to do everything in my power to get people out to vote and to encourage them to vote for Harris and Walz. I believe I will soon see a woman as our next president.
At the risk of being boring, let we say again this is not a choice between a woman and a man. She's a woman and he's a man. Flip a coin. The real choice for voters is between decency and obscenity, lawful and crooked, intelligent and stupid, sane and crazy, competent and demented, energetic and lazy, for the workers and for the rich, well apprenticed to one of the best U.S. presidents ever and totally qualified to be a game show host. Please focus on the characteristics that matter.
I agree with the intention of your statement. And yet, as a little girl in the 1960s, I remember being with my step-grandpa and his buddies as they met for their morning coffee at Red Ford’s Cafe. I remember listening to them talk, as they discussed the weather, farming, hunting, and always politics. I remember being asked what do you want to be when you grow up. I remember clearly and proudly saying, “I want to be a lawyer, and then Senator.”
I remember the laughter! I remember the embarrassment and the hurt. And I will always remember their response, “no, honey you marry a lawyer, you become a nurse or a teacher and you take care of your family.”
By saying that, they not only tried to diminish me, they belittled the professions of teaching and nursing, and said that a female was only made for giving birth.
Part of a person’s right to choose, is to have autonomy over the direction of their lives, as well as control over their bodies.
So yes, I take great pride and joy in the fact that Kamala Harris is a woman, and that the dream of the little girl that was me is being vindicated. I will, in January 2025, be celebrating both the woman she is, and the little girl she was.
Just so you know I didn’t become a lawyer, nor did I become Senator. I did have children. I did become a public service faculty member at a large university, and focused my career on making sure everyone had the opportunity to live the way they chose.
Your step-grandpa's crew wouldn't be able to say such things out loud, in public, today. They would be greeted with odd stares, that winding motion near the ear and some giggling, or the occasional bucket of cold water. Times have changed, isn't it great! The problem with pointing to the sex of a candidate rests in voters' reactions. Those who agree give you a high-five, but they were already voting for Kamala; those who disagree, silently think, "you're right, she's a woman, it'd be safer to vote for a man." Most of us would rather win than rub the oppositions nose in their mistakes.
They are saying these out loud today. Roe was overturned. Women are still being told that their looks matter more than their words.
I can still have pride that after 46 different presidents, I can point to Kamala Harris and say to my grandchildren, “see, you too can achieve that!”
True, not everyone has kept up with the changing times, but as an academic you are obligated to help them make a sane voting choice. Now you're pointing at a candidate, wouldn't you rather give everyone a president for your role model? Vote Harris/Walz.
I can't remember who it was, but one of the male speakers at the convention got the word "first" out and then obviously stifled it mid-sentence. I could be wrong, but I suspect he was told that Harris is the best qualified candidate period. She doesn't want to run on being a woman.
Your words are like an outpouring of sunshine, flowing across the floor of a large room. I missed Kamala’s speech, but this evening I caught up with those of Michelle Obama, VP-to-be Walls, and Pete Buttigieg. Great candidates and leaders all, and I smiled from ear to ear, reassured by their collective intelligence, their progressive outlook, and their energy. How fortunate it is that we have these minds and these personalities working for us and our country.
Watched Kamala's acceptance speech from Perth Western Australia as a dual citizen. She hit the high notes and delivered an inspiring speech that clearly came straight from her heart. I have hope that democracy-loving Americans will see her for all of the wonderful potential she has to release us at last from the dystopian vision and rhetoric of Donald J. Trump. I think Americans all over are ready for a new start that will have us looking forward toward the future with some optimism rather than dread. My hope is that people from all walks of life will rally behind her and she will indeed be Madame President.
You topped the speech with the cherry it deserved. Thank you Dems for an amazing DNC of Hope and Joy. And thank you Elliot for expressing what so many feel.