Reflections of Bernie rally, and the coming week in Wisconsin

Attended the Bernie Sanders rally with about 8,000-10,000 others yesterday- a pretty diverse crowd of interests and ages, which isn't unusual for a progressive rally in Madison. Makes you realize it's a pretty big, diverse world of interests out there, and I'd imagine a Hillary Clinton crowd would be similarly diverse (although with slightly different interests and a few more well-dressed people in suits than Bernie's rally would have).

The nearly 60-minute speech was pretty good, although I've seen Bernie speak a few times in person and knew what to expect. The second part of the speech was especially good, when Bernie went off of the Greatest Hits and discussed the plight of Native American communities (he also tied it into the need for legislation and attention to climate change) and the need to reduce federal penalties on pot while increasing treatment for opiod dependency. Bernie also landed a big blast on Governor Walker and other GOP governors regarding vote suppression tactics, saying they should "get out of politics" if they think that is a legitimate way to run elections and wield power. Voter rights and the plight of Native peoples and other impoverished groups is a topic he should return to time and again in the coming 9 days, because I think a vast majority of Wisconsinites would really be woken into anger and action against politicians who have been so cynically trying to rig elections in this state, and because the nation's attention should be brought to the abusive actions of Walker and the ALEC slugs in the GOP Legislature.

Also worth noting from the rally is the huge number of Russ Feingold bumper stickers you saw on cars in the parking lot. Russ has (wisely) stayed out of endorsing either Clinton or Sanders, but I think there is little doubt that most of Russ's biggest backers are Sanders supporters, at least in South Central Wisconsin. ANd it makes sense, because Russ and Bernie have been on the same side of campaign finance reform, the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and in being against the removal of Glass-Steagal for investment banking. They're also two candidates that I anticipate to grab a larger number of the rural Wisconsin vote than Hillary Clinton would, and Dem Party officials should keep this in mind if they want to win downticket in November.

One other cool touch from the Bernie rally- this is what Bernie and his wife Jane left the stage to this great tune.



Now note what "Starman" is supposed to be about, according to Bowie's interview with William S. Burroughs in 1973, later printed in Rolling Stone . Bowie may have been coked out of his mind when he said it, but there's probably an element of truth when he's telling Burroughs this.

Bowie: The time is five years to go before the end of the earth. It has been announced that the world will end due to lack of natural resources. Ziggy is in a position where all the kids have access to the things they thought they wanted. The older people have lost all touch with reality and the kids are left on their own to plunder anything. Ziggy was in a rock & roll band and the kids no longer want rock & roll. There's no electricity to play it. Ziggy's adviser tells him to collect news and sing it, 'cause there is no news. So Ziggy does this and there is terrible news. "All the Young Dudes" is a song about this news. It's no hymn to the youth as people thought. It's completely the opposite....

Ziggy is advised in a dream by the infinites to write the coming of a starman, so he writes "Starman", which is the first news of hope that the people have heard. So they latch onto it immediately. The starmen that he is talking about is called the infinites, and they are black-hole jumpers. Ziggy has been talking about this amazing spaceman that will come down to save the earth. They arrive somewhere in Greenwich Village. They don't have a care in the world and are of no possible use for us. They just happen to stumble into our universe by black-hole jumping.

Now, Bowie goes on to say that Ziggy gets a swelled head and is eventually torn apart by the infinites in "Rock n' Roll Suicide", so the infinites can become human, so I'm not sure Bernie may want that part of Ziggy's story to track with his. But there's definitely a parallel in that a whole lot of us recognize Bernie is telling truths about our broken political system and rigged economy that our most of the paid-off media and politicians won't dare to say, and that the fact that a whole lot of us realize we are not alone in thinking that is an invigorating feeling that can leave to a popular movement, if we care to stick with it.

Regardless, with both the GOP and Dem races looking to be hard-fought and close, it should make for a very interesting week here in Wisconsin. And I think a lot of us in the Cheddarsphere should work to tell the rest of the country what is really happening here and why the results look the way they do, and maybe some of the clueless Coastal media will figure a few things out about us in the Upper Midwest.

PS- Here's a nice holiday note from one of our Supreme Court candidates.

.@JudgeBradleyWI posts Bible passage on @facebook campaign page for Easter. pic.twitter.com/4G92AeaDF2

— Judith Davidoff (@JudyDavidoff) March 27, 2016

Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd rather have my judges base their rulings on the Constitution of the state and the US instead of the New Testament. Call me a heathen if you must.