Pawlenty Loss Goes National-Tealeaves-Baseless Predictions 2018-Bob Davis Podcast-747

Welcome back to the world of empty predictions from a primary election. These days it seems like the prognosticators can’t resist telling voters what’s going to happen before they vote. Find out why I say this in Pawlenty Loss Goes National-Tealeaves-Baseless Predictions 2018-Bob Davis Podcast-747.

Shining Tim Pawlenty Steps In To Save The Day

Former two-term Governor Tim Pawlenty had it all. A statewide image. National lobbying experience. The backing of the rich guys too. Pawlenty raised 2.3 million dollars, more than all the other candidates.

Goliath Tim Pawlenty Knocked Down By David Jeff Johnson

Pawlenty still lost the primary to the endorsed MNGOP candidate, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson. Since DFL Candidate Walz’s is linked in this blog, go here for Jeff Johnson’s official site.

Conventional Wisdom Is Right Until It Isn’t

The national media seized on Pawlenty’s strategic criticism of President Trump as the reason for his loss. Moreover they say this means republican candidates going against Trump will lose. Conventional wisdom says everyone hates Trump. Thus Trumpers may win primaries but lose the general election. Conventional Wisdom is usually right, until it isn’t. Hear it all in Pawlenty Loss Goes National-Tealeaves-Baseless Predictions 2018-Bob Davis Podcast-747.

I have a different view.

Man-Spread Pawlenty and His Rich Guy Political Bullies

I think it’s especially relevant that Pawlenty took a condescending and disrespectful tone in debates with Johnson. He said Johnson will be a three-time loser. “Man Spread” Pawlenty talked tough. He could be governor again if he wanted it. He could win, he said.

Dance with the one who brung ye

Minnesotans don’t like candidates who talk down to voters and their opponents. Especially when it isn’t necessary. Moreover times have changed. Nobody wants yesterday’s governor. Regardless of what happens in the general election, voters don’t appreciate candidates that disrespect the head of their parties.

So Much For The Grassroots On The DFL Side

In contrast DFL endorsed candidate Erin Murphy was defeated by retiring 1st district congressman Tim Walz. So much for the grassroots on the democrat side in Minnesota. Finally Democrat votes outnumbered republican votes in their primary by almost two to one. Consequently all kinds of breathless predictions have been issued about what will happen in November.

Why don’t we wait and see?

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Pawlenty Loss Goes National-Tealeaves-Baseless Predictions 2018-Bob Davis Podcast-747

Yoga Purists-Change-Always A Student-Bob Davis Podcast 746

Lobby time at the Yoga studio. Lots of discussion about yoga and life. One of my teachers suggested I talk about Yoga Purists in my next Yoga Podcast. Sometimes change is the challenge in Yoga Purists-Change-Always A Student-Bob Davis Podcast 746.

Good Habits Can Be Limiting

Especially relevant is the pace of our busy life. My solution to a busy pace is to create habits. Same classes. Same times. Yoga Every Damn Day. The same yoga.

These days some yogis feel strongly about spirituality in yoga. Moreover some yogis feel one type of practice is THE practice and that’s all they do.

Is yoga a religion?

I used to think it was not. Two veteran teachers have told me Yoga IS a religion. The spiritual component is there if you want it. We’ll talk about it in Yoga Purists-Change-Always A Student-Bob Davis Podcast 746.

Do I Have To Be Spiritual?

Does a yogi have to be ‘spiritual’. Moreover does a yogi have to be observant? My young teacher training friends tell me new people these days come in because of the spiritual component. What if you’re not so interested in that part of the practice.

This Practice Is The Only Practice

Finally I started with one ‘kind’ of yoga. I thought that one kind of yoga was the be all and end all. Like many ‘hotties’ I thought we were the strongest and the best practitioners of yoga. I was a purist.

One night the sculpt teacher across the hall didn’t show up and the sculpt students joined our ‘Bikram style’ hot class. ‘Bikram’ purists have often remarked, “Sculpt Is Not Yoga”. This would be the proof.

It’s Not A Competition, then again…

Moreover, I am here to tell you those sculpt students kicked our asses and convinced me I had to try sculpt.

Consequently branching out turned out to be a path to growth. Furthermore, sculpt made me stronger and improved my other practices. imagine learning a practice I thought ‘wasn’t’ yoga could make me stronger and a better yogi.

Go With It!

In conclusion creating habits to accomplish goals is a good thing. In contrast habits can also make us reluctant to accept change. Classes change. Teacher’s schedules shift. Studios offer more of one type of class than another. The one constant is change.

Sometimes if we go with the flow, we are shocked to find we like it more!

(Editor’s Note: In this podcast I refer to a purist as an iconoclast, which is of course the exact opposite of a purist. Sometimes I crack myself up.)

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Yoga Purists-Change-Always A Student-Bob Davis Podcast 746

 

American Cultural Revolution-Bob Davis Podcast 745

These days the United States is fast becoming a place where you cannot speak your mind. A country founded on free speech faces mob rule. Learn more in American Cultural Revolution-Bob Davis Podcast 745.

A Sea Of Nonsense

Furthermore misinformation and disinformation fill the sea of our thought. Even the news sounds like conspiracy theory. Everything is personal. People expect tolerance but give no quarter.

One Slip Up

Especially relevant is the reality that one slip up can turn a friendly conversation ugly. Consequently I wonder if we’re living through the early stages of what the Chinese went through in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Sure seems like it.

Abuses

During those years in China millions of people suffered a wide range of abuses. Public humiliation, sustained harassment, resettlement and worse. Historic relics and artifacts were destroyed. Religious sites ransacked. Sound familiar?

Political Minefield

Our world today is a political minefield. Stripped bare of decorum and decency. Long gone are the founding concepts protecting the rights of political minorities through free speech and republican government. They have been replaced by the unpredictable grievances of the mob, and its solutions.

Enemy Of The People

Finally the mob doesn’t necessarily have to follow a specific political direction. While one side is driving people out of restaurants the president is telling the country the ‘press is the enemy of the people‘. More shouting and demands.

Labels

Most noteworthy is the penchant for labels that make the old republican and democrat divide quaint. Alt-Right, Democratic Socialist, Populist, White Nationalist, Conservative, Liberal, Right and Left, up and down in a dizzying tornado of deadly serious nonsense.

Setting The People Back Decades

When the Chinese Cultural Revolution finally ended under Deng, the party recognized it had set the country and people back decades. Perhaps the only reason China wasn’t torn apart by Mao sponsored mobs running amok is because it was and is a tyranny. Maybe that is our future.

This Doesn’t End Well So Grow Up

In conclusion, this doesn’t end well. I know it seems like years but Trump has been president for only a year and eight months.  Eventually some test will come up for Donald Trump. The question is whether our politics these days can weather it.

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American Cultural Revolution-Bob Davis Podcast 745