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Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn poetry. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn poetry. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng

Baby Boomers+ for Bernie

B is for Bernie...and Believers...and #BirdieSanders...and Baby Boomers.
 
Yes, Boomers. In spite of what the mainstream media says, we exist in numbers in the Bernie camp, 50+ year old male and female voters. We're loud and proud and we're ready for Bernie.  We'll be voting  in Wisconsin in numbers alongside the Millennials, because we heard a little birdie tell us that we--and our kids and grandkids--have a future to believe in when we put Bernie Sanders in the White House. Our mighty Baby Boomer numbers will make it a landslide, too.  You may have forgotten, but we stopped a war. Watch us as we help stop the oligarchs and take back our country. We've been around the block a few times, so we know what it takes and who is worth fighting for--Bernie Sanders, of course. Power to the people!

(Check out and join some of our Facebook pages: Boomers for Bernie 2016, Baby Boomers 4 Bernie, Seniors for Bernie, Grandparents for Bernie, Retirees for Bernie)


A Baby Boomer Speaks Out for Bernie

by Bill MacKilligan

I  am a retired pharmacist. I graduated from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1971. I was part of the Vietnam protest. The protest was attended by so many students at MCP that the college allowed finals to be optional and actually shut down the second oldest and second largest college of pharmacy in the United States. It was such a conservative college that male students were required to wear shirts and ties to class, women had to wear skirts or dresses and everyone changed classes when the bell rang.

I feel the Baby Boomer generation, which included most of the Vietnam protesters and myself, seemed to be the last generation to really protest a very important issue. We felt we could change the world and stop an unjust war. We were right. We could and did. And, in the process, unseated a U.S. President.

Bernie Sanders' campaign has the quality and hope that the baby boomers had in the 1970's.  I feel that he could, if not change the world, at least change this country to include more people in the success of America.  This could be the last opportunity for the Baby Boomer generation to rise up and change this country for the better. Bernie's campaign harkens back to feelings of hope for real change. You feel that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes, and by doing so, we can grow a better, stronger country. Get on the Bernie bandwagon and support his platform. I truly feel this guy is for real. 

If you do nothing else, understand the way Bernie sees things and communicate those visions to others. We stopped a war -- we can elect Bernie 
 Sanders. 

***


Bernie Sanders Palm Sunday 

March 20, 2016

a poem by Barb McMillen
Our voices rose chanting his name. It is he
we came to hear. We lined his path both outside
and in. Our hands reaching to touch him.
He raised both arms and stood an old arch
angel, voice cracking with the ministry of Truth:
the time he said, the time he said, is Now. 
Ask, he said, feel, he said, injustice and ignorance--
Rise. Children, too, with tiny smiles not knowing
why but knowing this: the moment 
We opened our eyes. And then he spoke
of the earth as though it were a living thing
embraced, life not wealth. His arms
swung forward hands dancing about the air like
fronds, his palms measuring a clattering
symphony of love. The time has come he said
for us to ask. The poor, the lost, the sick,
And We, again, chanted his name
-- not him, but Us. Not me, but We.
 Bio: Barb is a co-founder of The Bernie Blog and a delegate from Ohio to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
***



Inside Job: A movie review

  by Richard Moore

I just watched the video Inside Job. Everyone should watch it. It gives insight to where we are as a nation financially how we got there and why we need Wall Street reform. It shows how the Clinton’s and my beloved president have been part of the problem and not the solution. Please watch this story of our financial collapse narrated by Matt Damon. (The entire film is available on Vimeo.)

Our Reviewer: "Richard Moore here. Seventy nine year old  and part of the 99%. Hillary is going to attack Bernie more and more as are the one percenters. Keep on keeping on Bernie. Do as you are doing. You are getting more press every day finally."

***

This Woman is Bernie Strong!

a weekly commentary from one of Bernie's female supporters 

What Sanders Has Taught the Democratic Party  
by Shawna Paul
Bernie Sanders, an independent democratic socialist, has helped the Democratic Party more than any other candidate in recent years and all before he won a single delegate. Regardless of who gets the nomination, the Democratic Party will forever be stronger because of the candidacy of Bernie Sanders.
How many times have we heard political pundits proclaim that President Reagan could not get elected today because his politics would not be considered conservative enough for the modern Republican Party? Why is this you ask? It is in part because the Democratic Party has lost its way over the last few decades. Unable to coalesce and fight for a true liberal agenda, it has allowed the Republican Party to pull the center of the country to the right.
Now when I say Democratic Party I'm not talking about the rank and file, I'm talking the leaders, the machine, the message. Think Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
 Instead of furthering a platform that includes such Democratic ideals as economic equality, social and criminal justice reform, and fixing a corrupt campaign finance system, the party's sole focus in recent years became reducing Republican damage. The party of FDR and JFK turned its back on being a party of bold sweeping ideas and has been complacent and satisfied for far too long with running on preserving Social Security and keeping a Republican appointee off the Supreme Court. That is until now.
Bernie Sanders is doing now what so many Democrats before him failed to do; he is dragging the Democratic Party (kicking and screaming) to the left. We have already seen the fruits of his labor, as Clinton has quickly dropped her status quo agenda and adopted some of his progressive rhetoric.
While it would be impossible to list all Bernie Lessons, here are four specific takeaways that would be helpful for the Democratic Party to remember, wash and repeat.
  1. Have a vision. It should be big.
  2. The vision must be authentic-- from the heart, not polls or lobbyists.
  3. The vision should be fair. It cannot keep the guy from the other party out of office.
  4. Vigorously defend your vision. There is a reason Republicans call Democrats "flip-floppers."



Bio: Shawna Paul says this about herself: "I am a freelance writer/filmmaker from Portland, Maine, an avid Bernie Sanders supporter who is ready for the revolution!  I also have a Wordpress blog with a Bernie Theme." https://bernieblogs2016.wordpress.com

Here's a song suggestion from Kelly, something to hum along with while you're phonebanking and canvassing for Bernie this week. #FeeltheBern and sing like #BirdieSanders!

Interested, Enthusiastic and Engaged Voters (This Woman is Bernie Strong!)



The New Hampshire primary has finally arrived, and "Berners" are more excited than ever. (Get out and #VoteTogether, N.H.!) Bernie supporters are the epitome of interested, enthused and engaged voters--the complete opposite of what establishment candidates expect or even want. Berners want to know what's going on, who's on the take from whom and for how much. (And what exactly is in those Goldman Sachs speech transcripts?)


This week we have some thought-provoking pieces from and about Bernie supporters who aren't about to accept the corporate candidates' status quo. First up, a new weekly feature I'm calling "This Woman is Bernie Strong!" If you're a woman who supports Bernie Sanders, we'd love to hear from you. A short testimonial (doesn't have to be very long) and a photo of you is all we need. Email it to thebernieblog2016@gmail.com and help stop the media reports saying that only "BernieBros" support Bernie's candidacy and to silence the recent insults made by Clinton supporters.

This Woman is Bernie Strong!
by Jessy Phares


I am a woman who believes in humanity. I am a woman who believes people's actions are louder than their words. I am a woman who does not forget even if I forgive. I am a woman who believes our planet and our children need much more help and attention than they are getting. I am a woman who has had to stand up for myself my whole life. I am a woman who intends to continue. I am a woman who is making sure she self-educates. As a woman, I am asking that you too, please become self-educated. There are far too many out there who would rather we remain ignorant. I am also a woman who believes just because someone has "done something for a long time" doesn't make it the right thing to do. I am a woman who thinks if there is truth being pointed out that you may not agree with it does not mean you can arbitrarily change the definition of the word "slander." I will not be shamed or bullied into voting for candidate(s) I do not feel have my best or even humanity's best interests at heart. While you are entitled to your opinion, I am entitled to mine as well. I, this woman, upon serious and thorough thinking will be supporting Bernie Sanders for our next president of the United States in 2016. He is the only one I see who is offering a platform founded on women's rights and worth. $15 an hour anyone? Full medical and time off anyone? No fracking or TPP anyone? 

As a woman, I have no time to waste on other people's games. We have a planet to save! #ThisWomanIs #BernieStrong



Interested, Enthusiastic – and Engaged!
by A.J. Matthews


Saturday evening saw us up in Toledo for the national Bernie Sanders campaign meeting there. Over the course of the thirty minutes before the meeting began Tremainsville Hall filled up to standing room only. People from all over the city and beyond came to learn more about Bernie Sanders' campaign and what they could do to promote it. To think the meeting was held on a Saturday evening with comparatively little notice, yet was full to overflowing shows the remarkable level of enthusiasm for Bernie's cause. I've been in a few political meetings on both sides of the Atlantic in my time, but not one of them approached the sheer degree of energy felt in Tremainsville Hall that evening.


A friend of ours arrived with a large quantity of campaign buttons she made, intending to  give them away in exchange for a campaign contribution. Whatever she had left over she would take to another meeting. Over the course of the evening she gave away all but a handful. Between us we could hardly keep up with the demand and the contributions.


 What we experienced that evening seems of a piece with the enthusiasm and sheer hope generated by Senator Bernie Sanders' bid for the presidency. We the people know that in him we have a genuine champion for our cause, a champion who will overcome wealth inequality, pry loose the cold greedy hands of corporate America from our lives, and restore and enhance the democratic values we need.

Evidence that his message is spreading far and wide can be seen in the aftermath of the recent Iowa caucus as seen in this Washington Post article.
An aide to the Democratic presidential hopeful said Tuesday that the campaign had raised $3 million since Monday night’s Iowa caucuses, in which Sanders finished right behind Hillary Clinton, according to Iowa Democratic Party figures.


“It’s been our best day ever,” Sanders communications director Michael Briggs said of the fund-raising haul.


He also benefited from new donors in the hour after his speech on Monday night. Four in ten who gave during that stretch had not contributed previously to the campaign, Briggs said. The campaign announced it raised an eye-popping $20 million in January alone. The past 24 hours have exceeded even that pace.


Whatever your thoughts about the apparent shenanigans connected to the Iowa caucuses (and I have a few not safe for work), the result shows the "business as usual" approach of the other candidates no longer resonates with Americans. Bernie Sanders is climbing in the polls in every state. The mainstream media is now forced to follow where social media has led the way – into recognizing in Senator Sanders the only person who should be president.

America is feeling the Bern!

Bio: A. J. Matthews is a Brit living in America, a writer, artist and enthusiastic Bernie Sanders supporter. He says he's ready for the political revolution. Keep feelin' the Bern!

Original artwork by Jaeil Cho 
www.jaeilchoart.bigcartel.com
Feel the Bern
a poem by Manus Brennan
 
Hours before the people decide
my heart is pumping with hope
for all that has brought us here
for all who believe your words
for the many who matter most                                        
for the labourers in the vineyard
those who have come to help
those who can't who are with us anyway, the young, the old, the women, the men, the black, the white, the brown, the red, the
colours of the rainbow you have drawn in our imaginations
and our hearts. 

Feel the Bern!

Bio:  Manus says, "I am a 59 year old retired teacher from County Donegal, Ireland, and I have come out to the U.S. for a month to volunteer on the Bernie Sanders campaign. I am working out of the Dover office. Keep up the good work!"


Don't forget to phone bank this week and continue to push Bernie's good news on all your social media sites. Share links, positive memes and messages. Soon everyone in the U.S.A. and the world will know who Bernie Sanders is!