If you’ve got ‘em, smoke ‘em
I wish I could have voted for Dennis Kocinich, but by the time his name turned up in my red state he was lost in foundering Democratic Party thought. He voted against preemptive war. I was pushing for him to gain ground from Iowa onward. I had my arguments with fellow Move On members in his favor until the end of the primaries. I thought the stakes were too high not to follow the leader.
Kocinich is a vegan, a pacifist, and proposed a department of peace in his platform. We should have gone all the way in supporting a candidate who opposed the war in Iraq from the outset, who promised to end the occupation.
Now we’re left with the Marlboro man, courtesy of his commercial photographer:
Naomi Klein in The Nation, the mission statement of which is:
The Nation will not be the organ of any party, sect, or body. It will, on the contrary, make an earnest effort to bring to the discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration, and misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred.
-- from The Nation's founding prospectus, 1865
Maybe we’ll learn from all this.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
It's William Blake's birthday,
a Sunday this year.
The Garden of Love
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I had never seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of the Chapel were shut,
And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore;
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys & desires.
--William Blake
Though it was chilly, windy, and cloudy, Mary and I spent the day planting ornamental purple and white cabbage, blue violets around our front yard yesterday. We haven't decorated outside of the house in many a Christmas. The new color will do. We should be enjoying it all well into March.
Good souls in the house with us made a great Thanksgiving: Joy, Pat, Anthony, Eileen, Joanne, Ellen.
a Sunday this year.
The Garden of Love
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I had never seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of the Chapel were shut,
And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore;
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys & desires.
--William Blake
Though it was chilly, windy, and cloudy, Mary and I spent the day planting ornamental purple and white cabbage, blue violets around our front yard yesterday. We haven't decorated outside of the house in many a Christmas. The new color will do. We should be enjoying it all well into March.
Good souls in the house with us made a great Thanksgiving: Joy, Pat, Anthony, Eileen, Joanne, Ellen.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
More to be thankful for
We need more to be thankful for than the food on our table, the clothes on our backs, the job to go to Monday.
We’d like our democracy back. We’d like sanity back in public policy.
I'm thankful for the wisdom of our founding fathers in writing a beautiful constitution. We want it back, we want it adhered to, we want a nation under rule of law.
We're thankful for two beautiful children finding their way in the world. But we need more children like them with real values, not trumped up falsehoods their moron, Fox News enthusiast parents lay on them.
Our bellies are full but our spirits are drained. Fifty million of us versus Fifty-three million morons. We won't go away. Truth, as The Bible says, will set us free. As soon as we get out from under the mess the morons have us in.
As a footnote, I did not intend to post today; meant to keep politics at arms length. But when I looked at my blog I saw a blank. By posting I found it alive and well.
We’d like our democracy back. We’d like sanity back in public policy.
I'm thankful for the wisdom of our founding fathers in writing a beautiful constitution. We want it back, we want it adhered to, we want a nation under rule of law.
We're thankful for two beautiful children finding their way in the world. But we need more children like them with real values, not trumped up falsehoods their moron, Fox News enthusiast parents lay on them.
Our bellies are full but our spirits are drained. Fifty million of us versus Fifty-three million morons. We won't go away. Truth, as The Bible says, will set us free. As soon as we get out from under the mess the morons have us in.
As a footnote, I did not intend to post today; meant to keep politics at arms length. But when I looked at my blog I saw a blank. By posting I found it alive and well.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Showing, telling from Iraq
The failures of the Bush Administration in Iraq must be numbing many Americans into turning away, kind of like the mainstream media is doing. I guess the media don’t wish to be judged as portraying only what is going wrong.
By the way, what is going right? Sometimes it’s the reporting itself. Two journalists, one embedded with the Marines recently in Fallujah reveals a microcosm with his camera; the other, on his own in early May 2003, provides an interesting macrocosm of the reasons for our woes.
Embedded:
NBC reporter Kevin Sites writes an open letter to the Marines with which he was moving when he videotaped the shooting of an unarmed, wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque. First published on his personal blog.
"He's f------ faking he's dead -- he's faking he's f------ dead."
”Through my viewfinder I can see him raise the muzzle of his rifle in the direction of the wounded Iraqi. There are no sudden movements, no reaching or lunging.
"However, the Marine could legitimately believe the man poses some kind of danger. Maybe he's going to cover him while another Marine searches for weapons.
"Instead, he pulls the trigger. There is a small splatter against the back wall and the man's leg slumps down.
"’Well he's dead now,’" says another Marine in the background.
”I am still rolling. I feel the deep pit of my stomach. The Marine then abruptly turns away and strides away, right past the fifth wounded insurgent lying next to a column. He is very much alive and peering from his blanket. He is moving, even trying to talk. But for some reason, it seems he did not pose the same apparent "danger" as the other man -- though he may have been more capable of hiding a weapon or explosive beneath his blanket.”
Not embedded:
Richard Leiby, for Salon.com, writes about what went wrong, from his un-embedded “mission-accomplished” days reporting for The Washington Post.
“What happened? Even now, (Lt. Gen. Jay) Garner (U.S. administrator in Iraq before Bremmer), doesn't seem entirely sure, or won't say. He says he was never told why he fell from favor. ‘A lot of stuff in that Pentagon operation is clandestine," he said, referring to the machinations of the civilian leadership that prosecuted the war. 'And the vice president's office is a shadowy organization.’"
By the way, what is going right? Sometimes it’s the reporting itself. Two journalists, one embedded with the Marines recently in Fallujah reveals a microcosm with his camera; the other, on his own in early May 2003, provides an interesting macrocosm of the reasons for our woes.
Embedded:
NBC reporter Kevin Sites writes an open letter to the Marines with which he was moving when he videotaped the shooting of an unarmed, wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque. First published on his personal blog.
"He's f------ faking he's dead -- he's faking he's f------ dead."
”Through my viewfinder I can see him raise the muzzle of his rifle in the direction of the wounded Iraqi. There are no sudden movements, no reaching or lunging.
"However, the Marine could legitimately believe the man poses some kind of danger. Maybe he's going to cover him while another Marine searches for weapons.
"Instead, he pulls the trigger. There is a small splatter against the back wall and the man's leg slumps down.
"’Well he's dead now,’" says another Marine in the background.
”I am still rolling. I feel the deep pit of my stomach. The Marine then abruptly turns away and strides away, right past the fifth wounded insurgent lying next to a column. He is very much alive and peering from his blanket. He is moving, even trying to talk. But for some reason, it seems he did not pose the same apparent "danger" as the other man -- though he may have been more capable of hiding a weapon or explosive beneath his blanket.”
Not embedded:
Richard Leiby, for Salon.com, writes about what went wrong, from his un-embedded “mission-accomplished” days reporting for The Washington Post.
“What happened? Even now, (Lt. Gen. Jay) Garner (U.S. administrator in Iraq before Bremmer), doesn't seem entirely sure, or won't say. He says he was never told why he fell from favor. ‘A lot of stuff in that Pentagon operation is clandestine," he said, referring to the machinations of the civilian leadership that prosecuted the war. 'And the vice president's office is a shadowy organization.’"
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Liberal secularist elected president
As of tonight’s meeting of the Abbotts Pointe Homeowners Association, yours truly is now president of that august body. My first move is to correct the spelling of “Pointe.”
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Grown professional men beating up on each other, Hunters in deadly battle, play Oswald over and over again, crush your business competitor
I used to be the second biggest NBA/Atlanta Hawks fan in town. Then the crybabies came and I quit. I’ve never seen more violence in sports than in Friday’s Pistons/Pacers game. Not even in the one boxing match I’ve attended. Glad I didn’t catch the game; saw the replays ad nauseam in latest news cycle.
Here are more reflections of American Culture I picked up in a brief morning scan of the news.
Blood sport gone bad:
Had to go to Australia to find a report about hunters in Wisconsin battling over a shooting position (tree stand); five dead, three wounded.
Blood on or off option:
Rush over to their Web site (you won’t find a link here) and buy your copy of “JFK Reloaded.” Relive the assassination through the sites of Lee Harvey Oswald in commemoration of that fateful November day.
The Scottish game maker, with “nothing but respect for Kennedy and for history,” is compassionate enough to provide a “blood option” so you can turn the gore on or off according to your stomach.
Blood or money?
Avarice, one of them Christian values 51% voted for? You must catch the new Monopoly Tycoon.
“Plan, invest, build, demolish, and bankrupt your opponents in a beautiful, real time, 3-D environment . . .”
“It’s all about money ? (sic) and making more of it than your opponents.”
Once they figure out the meaning of the word “avarice,” and it’s definitely an “anti-value,” it might be too late.
Here are more reflections of American Culture I picked up in a brief morning scan of the news.
Blood sport gone bad:
Had to go to Australia to find a report about hunters in Wisconsin battling over a shooting position (tree stand); five dead, three wounded.
Blood on or off option:
Rush over to their Web site (you won’t find a link here) and buy your copy of “JFK Reloaded.” Relive the assassination through the sites of Lee Harvey Oswald in commemoration of that fateful November day.
The Scottish game maker, with “nothing but respect for Kennedy and for history,” is compassionate enough to provide a “blood option” so you can turn the gore on or off according to your stomach.
Blood or money?
Avarice, one of them Christian values 51% voted for? You must catch the new Monopoly Tycoon.
“Plan, invest, build, demolish, and bankrupt your opponents in a beautiful, real time, 3-D environment . . .”
“It’s all about money ? (sic) and making more of it than your opponents.”
Once they figure out the meaning of the word “avarice,” and it’s definitely an “anti-value,” it might be too late.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
The last of the “good people around him”
What is in store for the Iraqi people, American service personnel, us, now that perhaps one of the best “people” around GWB, maybe the last voice of reason, has left the administration?
The national security advisor, maybe one of those who failed us the most, is promoted to Collin Powell’s job. Collin Powell’s failure was to acquiesce to an insane ideology when he should have learned his lesson better the first time, in Vietnam. He should have stuck to his guns. He should have resigned in protest two years ago.
The Bush ideology only ever had one objective: To ensure the wealthy tied to guns and oil would profit for many years to come unhindered by the pesky justice of paying for it in taxes.
I thought this bad craziness would be over by now. I am tired. I can’t even read The Bible. Maybe I’ll read the U.S. Constitution again.
Mark Danner writes a thoughtful, reflective, and incisive piece about all this in Today’s NYT.
The national security advisor, maybe one of those who failed us the most, is promoted to Collin Powell’s job. Collin Powell’s failure was to acquiesce to an insane ideology when he should have learned his lesson better the first time, in Vietnam. He should have stuck to his guns. He should have resigned in protest two years ago.
The Bush ideology only ever had one objective: To ensure the wealthy tied to guns and oil would profit for many years to come unhindered by the pesky justice of paying for it in taxes.
I thought this bad craziness would be over by now. I am tired. I can’t even read The Bible. Maybe I’ll read the U.S. Constitution again.
Mark Danner writes a thoughtful, reflective, and incisive piece about all this in Today’s NYT.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Those zany kids around him
Well, all you folks who voted for “the good people around him,” now that these nice boys have an actual track record running foreign policy, justice, education, commerce--left anything out?--GWB is replacing them. With their peers of the past four years! (Please pardon the gratuitous sloganeering.) With the same track record! He’s putting the kids in charge! (I wonder how George liked “Risky Business.”) I wonder if there will be more “smooch appointees.” What’s up with the kiss on the lips for Margaret Spellings? All you educators out there know where you can place your next buss. Lookin’ more and more like George II’s harem . . . Anyway, Bob Herbert puts it much better:
“I look at the catastrophe in Iraq, the fiscal debacle here at home, the extent to which loyalty trumps competence at the highest levels of government, the absence of a coherent vision of the future for the U.S. and the world, and I wonder, with a sense of deep sadness, where the adults have gone.”
I hope most are home, telling their kids the truth. Afraid we’re in this for the long haul.
So I decided to spend an hour out back taking pictures of titmice. I used the motor drive. But I can’t show you the pictures until I get the picture posting resolved. Until then, you can look at a picture and information about the titmouse.
My backyard is usually frequented by bluebirds, cardinals, brown thrashers, woodpeckers (even the huge pileated kind), sometimes a hawk or two, a falcon for a brief spell . . . purple martins . . . flocks of geese and ducks . . . buzzards, just about any bird you’d think of flying through these parts.
Today I saw one blue jay and that was it. Hundreds of titmice flittering all over the yard. They’re very jittery and fly in a quick elevate/descend patterns. Difficult to photograph, hard to anticipate their moves.
What’s up with them new CNN commercials? Is it the point that their news is produced by airheads? No pun intended.
“I look at the catastrophe in Iraq, the fiscal debacle here at home, the extent to which loyalty trumps competence at the highest levels of government, the absence of a coherent vision of the future for the U.S. and the world, and I wonder, with a sense of deep sadness, where the adults have gone.”
I hope most are home, telling their kids the truth. Afraid we’re in this for the long haul.
So I decided to spend an hour out back taking pictures of titmice. I used the motor drive. But I can’t show you the pictures until I get the picture posting resolved. Until then, you can look at a picture and information about the titmouse.
My backyard is usually frequented by bluebirds, cardinals, brown thrashers, woodpeckers (even the huge pileated kind), sometimes a hawk or two, a falcon for a brief spell . . . purple martins . . . flocks of geese and ducks . . . buzzards, just about any bird you’d think of flying through these parts.
Today I saw one blue jay and that was it. Hundreds of titmice flittering all over the yard. They’re very jittery and fly in a quick elevate/descend patterns. Difficult to photograph, hard to anticipate their moves.
What’s up with them new CNN commercials? Is it the point that their news is produced by airheads? No pun intended.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Joy’s Ride
Funny that Joy bought a 1989 Oldsmobile driven by a nun. Funnier that it was once stolen, taken for a joy ride, and has minor dents as a result. Funniest thing is Mary and I financed it.
Joy stopped by after picking up the car, brought us a bottle of Fat Bastard. She called the navy-blue 4-door sedan “my car” many times. The Olds is her first car. She lived in New York with cousin Jenny for a while after graduation .
"I could prove God statistically."
--George Gallup (today is his birthday, Writer's Almanac)
Joy stopped by after picking up the car, brought us a bottle of Fat Bastard. She called the navy-blue 4-door sedan “my car” many times. The Olds is her first car. She lived in New York with cousin Jenny for a while after graduation .
"I could prove God statistically."
--George Gallup (today is his birthday, Writer's Almanac)
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
A Bad Air Day
Besides learning that his is The Greatest Show On Earth, greater even than Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, things I was informed of listening to Rush Limbaugh the other day.
*Bong Water Beer, from a microbrewery (name escapes me).
*Woman fined $40 for miscues and getting the words wrong while singing the Mexican National Anthem (I think at a sporting event).
*Fox TV’s new show, “Cold Turkey,” follows the miseries of people quitting smoking; win a million dollars!
It’s been almost never since I last listened to “Rushbo” (yes, his ditto-headed listeners call him that), and it will be at least that long until I do again. Scary that so many stupid people listen to the whole thing every day. The show is nothing but twisted, propaganda-laden air pollution.
I was going to offer a few examples but why bother. The whole show is a bad example.
*Bong Water Beer, from a microbrewery (name escapes me).
*Woman fined $40 for miscues and getting the words wrong while singing the Mexican National Anthem (I think at a sporting event).
*Fox TV’s new show, “Cold Turkey,” follows the miseries of people quitting smoking; win a million dollars!
It’s been almost never since I last listened to “Rushbo” (yes, his ditto-headed listeners call him that), and it will be at least that long until I do again. Scary that so many stupid people listen to the whole thing every day. The show is nothing but twisted, propaganda-laden air pollution.
I was going to offer a few examples but why bother. The whole show is a bad example.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Backyard art
I finished “American Flag Television,” painted a couple of large-scale versions on brown packing paper. Blogger won’t let me post pictures right now or I’d show you the flags; or maybe it’s the “Hello” picture software. With a name like “Hello,” it better be good. Talking with JB about my own Web site.
My sister Judy tells me the song, Autumn Leaves, which closes the movie, is from:
“Eddy Duchin Story???? What did I win???
Big hugs,'
Judy”
My sister Judy tells me the song, Autumn Leaves, which closes the movie, is from:
“Eddy Duchin Story???? What did I win???
Big hugs,'
Judy”
Monday, November 15, 2004
The right to set land mines
I’ve been thinking about Amendment II of the U.S. Constitution lately.
“A Well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Too many commas if you ask me, but it was ratified along with the first ten Amendments (Bill of Rights) effective December 15, 1791.
Well, a well-regulated militia from many sates is deployed all over Iraq right now. I believe we call them Reserves and National Guard. They are well prepared and certainly well regulated by The Pentagon and The U.S. Department of Defense. I don’t believe they supplied their own guns and ammunition. Flak jackets, maybe.
Does this mean the Fourth Amendment empowers us, the people, to arm our properties with roof-mounted Kalashnikovs? Why not RPG’s and IRD’s? Land mines, anyone? Where do we stop?
Deer hunting? OK. Personal protection for those authorized to carry pistols? Sure. But after two-hundred-and-thirteen years of technological advancement in weaponry, we just might reevaluate what the amendment means today.
Let’s face it, fundamentalists are lunatics and they are among us.
Tomorrow I begin memorizing The Bible. Commentary to follow.
Joanne makes a perfect chili.
“A Well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Too many commas if you ask me, but it was ratified along with the first ten Amendments (Bill of Rights) effective December 15, 1791.
Well, a well-regulated militia from many sates is deployed all over Iraq right now. I believe we call them Reserves and National Guard. They are well prepared and certainly well regulated by The Pentagon and The U.S. Department of Defense. I don’t believe they supplied their own guns and ammunition. Flak jackets, maybe.
Does this mean the Fourth Amendment empowers us, the people, to arm our properties with roof-mounted Kalashnikovs? Why not RPG’s and IRD’s? Land mines, anyone? Where do we stop?
Deer hunting? OK. Personal protection for those authorized to carry pistols? Sure. But after two-hundred-and-thirteen years of technological advancement in weaponry, we just might reevaluate what the amendment means today.
Let’s face it, fundamentalists are lunatics and they are among us.
Tomorrow I begin memorizing The Bible. Commentary to follow.
Joanne makes a perfect chili.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
The Mulligan Amendment
I propose Amendment XXVIII to the United States Constitution:
“Voters shall be allowed one mulligan* per presidential election. On December 2 of the election year, citizens who see fit to change their votes, or had their votes unjustly rejected, may go to the polls to cast an amended ballot for a presidential candidate.”
This may take a while but who knows, it could happen. Amendment XXVII was proposed September 25, 1789 and ratified 203 years later, on May 7, 1992.
*In the game of golf, a mulligan is one extra tee shot per round not tallied against the score.
Along with Ellen, Mary and I are going to Joanne’s for chili this evening.
A few gloomy days have broken into a sunny, crisp fall morning here on the farm. Yellow leaves, mostly oak, poplar, and maple, are blowing and swirling outside my window.
“Autumn Leaves” is one of my favorite tunes. Can anybody name the movie?
“Voters shall be allowed one mulligan* per presidential election. On December 2 of the election year, citizens who see fit to change their votes, or had their votes unjustly rejected, may go to the polls to cast an amended ballot for a presidential candidate.”
This may take a while but who knows, it could happen. Amendment XXVII was proposed September 25, 1789 and ratified 203 years later, on May 7, 1992.
*In the game of golf, a mulligan is one extra tee shot per round not tallied against the score.
Along with Ellen, Mary and I are going to Joanne’s for chili this evening.
A few gloomy days have broken into a sunny, crisp fall morning here on the farm. Yellow leaves, mostly oak, poplar, and maple, are blowing and swirling outside my window.
“Autumn Leaves” is one of my favorite tunes. Can anybody name the movie?
Saturday, November 13, 2004
What I’m reading
Funny what a political experience like this will make you do. I’m reading the United States Constitution, been through it once so far this week and I’ll read it several more times by next week. I’ll commit it to memory. It is a religious experience, I’m telling you.
Blue states, red states, free states, slave states. Thanks to Jeffrey Stettner of our “progressive fifteen.”
Regressive reports from Georgia:
Two examples I hereby offer as proof, one from my home state, that evolution, survival of the fittest, and natural selection to support the advancement of the species must be a waning theory lacking supporting evidence.
1.) Bush reelected on his sorry-ass record.
2.) Linda (Republican) Schrenko “Prosecutors say former School Superintendent (LS) and associates employed South African and family bank accounts, envelopes full of cash and more than a hundred $590 checks in a scheme to steal more than $500,000 in federal education funds.” From Fridays Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
Safer under Bush? Goss
doesn’t “do personnel”
Top CIA officers are jumping ship under Porter J. Goss, the nonpartisan former Florida Republican congressional representative GWB appointed as top dog.
“When senior managers have gone to Goss to complain about his staff actions, one CIA officer said, Goss has told them: ‘Talk to my chief of staff. I don't do personnel.’”
My understanding is the CIA is all personnel. In that case what exactly does Goss do? Full story in today’s Washington Post.
Blue states, red states, free states, slave states. Thanks to Jeffrey Stettner of our “progressive fifteen.”
Regressive reports from Georgia:
Two examples I hereby offer as proof, one from my home state, that evolution, survival of the fittest, and natural selection to support the advancement of the species must be a waning theory lacking supporting evidence.
1.) Bush reelected on his sorry-ass record.
2.) Linda (Republican) Schrenko “Prosecutors say former School Superintendent (LS) and associates employed South African and family bank accounts, envelopes full of cash and more than a hundred $590 checks in a scheme to steal more than $500,000 in federal education funds.” From Fridays Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
Safer under Bush? Goss
doesn’t “do personnel”
Top CIA officers are jumping ship under Porter J. Goss, the nonpartisan former Florida Republican congressional representative GWB appointed as top dog.
“When senior managers have gone to Goss to complain about his staff actions, one CIA officer said, Goss has told them: ‘Talk to my chief of staff. I don't do personnel.’”
My understanding is the CIA is all personnel. In that case what exactly does Goss do? Full story in today’s Washington Post.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Tell me if you’ve heard this one
A new shopping center sprouted up on our corner. I’ve had my hair cut there a few times by a girl named Soo. The last time I was in I thought it odd that Soo would offer to squeeze a pimple or two next to one of my temples. I told her it was OK, but no thanks.
She does a great job of cutting my hair, massaging my shoulders, and massaging my head during the shampoo. The shampoo comes after the haircut.
Today she told me I had a blackhead near one of my temples and she should squeeze it or I’d get more. Ewwww, but I told her to go ahead.
Soo is Korean so I figure it’s a cultural difference that I would think it a bit weird. She held the removed item up in front of my eyes, See? Has anybody out there had this experience at a barber?
Stop. Let’s move on now
My friend Raina called yesterday to ask If I had read the November 15th New Yorker. Since mail wasn’t delivered yesterday I had not. She told me I should read Talk of the Town as soon as my copy arrived. Today I did.
Although the balance of power is precariously out of whack in Washington, a mandate from we the people is hardly the reality. “ . . . the number of voters who cast their ballots for Republican Senate candidates was 37.9 million, while 41.3 million voted for Democrats.” And this: “The system of checks and balances has broken down, but the country remains divided—right down the nonexistent, powerless middle. –Hendrik Herzberg”
Cities attacked by Al Qaeda:
New York, voted three to one for Kerry
Washington D.C., voted nine to one for Kerry
Keep your mighty pens poised, folks. The votes should be counted. Congress should investigate. And we should stop the teeth gnashing and move on to the next hard work. We work hard. It is hard work. We're working hard . . .
Big government Democrats? According to William F. Buckley, of all conservatives, also in this week’s The New Yorker: “Government is now 20.9 percent of G.D.P., and that’s bad stuff.” He’s then quoted as saying, Drink to that! In today’s parlance I’d say, Pray on that!
She does a great job of cutting my hair, massaging my shoulders, and massaging my head during the shampoo. The shampoo comes after the haircut.
Today she told me I had a blackhead near one of my temples and she should squeeze it or I’d get more. Ewwww, but I told her to go ahead.
Soo is Korean so I figure it’s a cultural difference that I would think it a bit weird. She held the removed item up in front of my eyes, See? Has anybody out there had this experience at a barber?
Stop. Let’s move on now
My friend Raina called yesterday to ask If I had read the November 15th New Yorker. Since mail wasn’t delivered yesterday I had not. She told me I should read Talk of the Town as soon as my copy arrived. Today I did.
Although the balance of power is precariously out of whack in Washington, a mandate from we the people is hardly the reality. “ . . . the number of voters who cast their ballots for Republican Senate candidates was 37.9 million, while 41.3 million voted for Democrats.” And this: “The system of checks and balances has broken down, but the country remains divided—right down the nonexistent, powerless middle. –Hendrik Herzberg”
Cities attacked by Al Qaeda:
New York, voted three to one for Kerry
Washington D.C., voted nine to one for Kerry
Keep your mighty pens poised, folks. The votes should be counted. Congress should investigate. And we should stop the teeth gnashing and move on to the next hard work. We work hard. It is hard work. We're working hard . . .
Big government Democrats? According to William F. Buckley, of all conservatives, also in this week’s The New Yorker: “Government is now 20.9 percent of G.D.P., and that’s bad stuff.” He’s then quoted as saying, Drink to that! In today’s parlance I’d say, Pray on that!
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Veterans Day parade of crosses
In my north Georgia town, city workers line Main Street with crosses and flags every Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Each cross carries the name of a dead veteran along with the war in which he or she served.
My sister Judy, visiting around Memorial Day, remarked: "Boy, there must have been a lot of accidents on this road."
After Main Street was full of mini memorials, the city started using the primary east/west highway through town. I've seen a few "Persian Gulf War" markers but no "Operation Iraqi Freedoms," yet. Makes me wonder how many dead veterans Bush's failed imperialistic policies have made so far today. And it makes me realize how the attack on Falluja failed to contain the opposition because of the administration's selfish plan to hold off until after the election. The fighters, the cowardly neck choppers, and their leaders escaped to fight another day, yesterday and today in fact.
What a mess. Draft young Republicans first.
Thomas Friedman provides six questions that must be answered before we " . . . believe any happy talk coming from the Bush team on Iraq."
My sister Judy, visiting around Memorial Day, remarked: "Boy, there must have been a lot of accidents on this road."
After Main Street was full of mini memorials, the city started using the primary east/west highway through town. I've seen a few "Persian Gulf War" markers but no "Operation Iraqi Freedoms," yet. Makes me wonder how many dead veterans Bush's failed imperialistic policies have made so far today. And it makes me realize how the attack on Falluja failed to contain the opposition because of the administration's selfish plan to hold off until after the election. The fighters, the cowardly neck choppers, and their leaders escaped to fight another day, yesterday and today in fact.
What a mess. Draft young Republicans first.
Thomas Friedman provides six questions that must be answered before we " . . . believe any happy talk coming from the Bush team on Iraq."
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Anthony wings it again
When Anthony arrived at Tuesday Group he learned he was cast for last night’s show. Improvisational comedy gives little lead-time. He called but I was already in my pajamas. I’ll have the motor running at seven o’clock Tuesday evenings from now on.
Novak outs Plame; Miller, Cooper face jail?
This is as true as it is Orwellian:
The White House gives Bob Novak the name of Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, as a clandestine CIA operative. The White House source, “a senior administration official,” tells Novak he should probably stay mum. He probably forgot. He does appear a little senile on “CrossssssFierrrrr,” so he blabbed Ms. Plame’s name all over his column. God bless his scooping little heart.
You may recall this all occurred after Mr. Wilson was sent to Nigeria to bring back evidence of Sadam Hussein fishing for yellow-cake uranium. Problem was, no evidence. When the former ambassador wrote about his experience, including White House pressure to find evidence, Karl Ro . . . well somebody on staff wanted revenge.
El Presidente ‘lil Generalissimo Bush promised a “complete investigation” in July 2003. That must have been when he was busy missing all those military funerals and not visiting Walter Reed.
Now Judith Miller (The New York Times) and Matthew Cooper (Time) face jail for refusing to reveal sources. Problem is they didn’t out Plame, Novak did.
“As for Mr. Novak, he is in no apparent jeopardy, for reasons that remain unclear,” writes Nicholas Kristof in today’s Times.
The administration’s favorite ass-kisser takes a pass—Outrageous!
Novak outs Plame; Miller, Cooper face jail?
This is as true as it is Orwellian:
The White House gives Bob Novak the name of Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, as a clandestine CIA operative. The White House source, “a senior administration official,” tells Novak he should probably stay mum. He probably forgot. He does appear a little senile on “CrossssssFierrrrr,” so he blabbed Ms. Plame’s name all over his column. God bless his scooping little heart.
You may recall this all occurred after Mr. Wilson was sent to Nigeria to bring back evidence of Sadam Hussein fishing for yellow-cake uranium. Problem was, no evidence. When the former ambassador wrote about his experience, including White House pressure to find evidence, Karl Ro . . . well somebody on staff wanted revenge.
El Presidente ‘lil Generalissimo Bush promised a “complete investigation” in July 2003. That must have been when he was busy missing all those military funerals and not visiting Walter Reed.
Now Judith Miller (The New York Times) and Matthew Cooper (Time) face jail for refusing to reveal sources. Problem is they didn’t out Plame, Novak did.
“As for Mr. Novak, he is in no apparent jeopardy, for reasons that remain unclear,” writes Nicholas Kristof in today’s Times.
The administration’s favorite ass-kisser takes a pass—Outrageous!
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
You gotta know when to hold’em, know when to loosen up a little
Last night Joy, Pat, and I went to a fundraiser for Anthony’s Whole World Theater, Texas hold’em at Prince of Wales Pub on Piedmont Park. We didn’t win tattoos, hot-air balloon ride, Hawks tickets, house cleaning. All we won was a little fun.
I expected it to be like the Bravo Channel game, with actors and comedians cutting up, cracking jokes. But I must admit I had to step in and loosen everybody up. I wore a Mayan god around my neck, a trinket I bought for Anthony in Cancun several years back. Told the table it was the “penis god of good luck.” I don’t remember what god it really is but it was worth some yuks.
Glad I went and I’ll be back for the final game next Monday night.
As I was driving up to the house at noontime today, my neighbor was driving away. He waved, turned his SUV around, and came back as I was unlocking the front door to my house.
“Are you selling your car?” No, I said. “Well I thought it had some ‘for sale’ signs on it. I’m looking for a car for my son.”
“You must mean the ‘Give Bush the Boot’ signs.”
“Yeah, I guess that was it.”
I stroke my goatee.
I’m with John Dufresne. Chip away at it. We have two years, a political eternity, to win back some congressional seats. Pull no punches. We are who we are.
This is a country based on a wonderful Constitution, rule of law. Let’s go get ‘em.
Has anybody taken notice of the presidential seal evident on the sidewall at Bush’s latest press conference? When our “political-capital” laden president is photographed or televised in profile, the golden seal looks like a halo around his hollow head. Eerily Christ-like. I’ve never noticed a press-conference set like that in many administrations of my lifetime.
Bob Novak on today’s Crossfire rhetorically asking, now that GWB has such a great mandate, if democrats will find it in their hearts to offer “unconditional support of the war and our troops.” What does he think we are? puppies?
I expected it to be like the Bravo Channel game, with actors and comedians cutting up, cracking jokes. But I must admit I had to step in and loosen everybody up. I wore a Mayan god around my neck, a trinket I bought for Anthony in Cancun several years back. Told the table it was the “penis god of good luck.” I don’t remember what god it really is but it was worth some yuks.
Glad I went and I’ll be back for the final game next Monday night.
As I was driving up to the house at noontime today, my neighbor was driving away. He waved, turned his SUV around, and came back as I was unlocking the front door to my house.
“Are you selling your car?” No, I said. “Well I thought it had some ‘for sale’ signs on it. I’m looking for a car for my son.”
“You must mean the ‘Give Bush the Boot’ signs.”
“Yeah, I guess that was it.”
I stroke my goatee.
I’m with John Dufresne. Chip away at it. We have two years, a political eternity, to win back some congressional seats. Pull no punches. We are who we are.
This is a country based on a wonderful Constitution, rule of law. Let’s go get ‘em.
Has anybody taken notice of the presidential seal evident on the sidewall at Bush’s latest press conference? When our “political-capital” laden president is photographed or televised in profile, the golden seal looks like a halo around his hollow head. Eerily Christ-like. I’ve never noticed a press-conference set like that in many administrations of my lifetime.
Bob Novak on today’s Crossfire rhetorically asking, now that GWB has such a great mandate, if democrats will find it in their hearts to offer “unconditional support of the war and our troops.” What does he think we are? puppies?
Monday, November 08, 2004
Republican attack dog; a fable?
Elly is mostly black with a little scattered white, looks like a graying old lady around her head and in other spots. She comes from an old cotton-mill workers’ neighborhood, an urban collection of shotgun houses slightly east of downtown Atlanta. I joke that she is black-and-white trash from Cabbage Town, what that now-gentrified area has always been called.
Bell is beige, and weighs at least twice as much as Elly. Just the sight of Bell riles Elly. Seeing Elly enrages Bell.
As entertainment guy at our annual neighborhood fall festival Saturday, I was sitting on a chair in the middle of a cul-de-sac in front of the house where Bell lives. I was painting figures on the faces and wrists of children. My friend Ellen and her dog were minding Elly while I worked. Ellen walked the two dogs on their leashes into the cul-de-sac.
Bell, free to roam among the festival goers, lunged into the crowd and quickly dispatched Elly to the blacktop, Elly’s neck firmly in Bell’s jaws. We quickly broke up the fracas and Elly is no worse for wear.
I’ve since learned Bell has a history of charging and attempting to attack other dogs.
Bell’s owner supports Bush. I, well you know who I don’t support. People murmured about why Bell might do such a thing. I mumbled something about Elly’s liberal roots.
Nominated to Home Owners Association board
Before the fall festivities got underway, we held a brief meeting to appoint a new board. Volunteers, myself included, raised hands to serve. After the meeting the talk turned to electing me president. I immediately remarked, At least one liberal is going to be president in America next year.
Therefore, have faith—err, be encouraged—we’ve already begun to turn this thing around.
The New York Times's Bob Herbert today:
“I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of President Bush's supporters believe the U.S. has come up with "clear evidence" that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Qaeda. A third of the president's supporters believe weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. And more than a third believe that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion.
“This is scary. How do you make a rational political pitch to people who have put that part of their brain on hold? No wonder Bush won.”
The 2004 presidential election by IQ: http://chrisevans3d.com/files/iq.htm://
Thanks to John Dufresne for the link, which is being circulated widely, published by The Economist. Be sure to read John's blog today, especially the midday edition. "We can do this." We must do this.
Bell is beige, and weighs at least twice as much as Elly. Just the sight of Bell riles Elly. Seeing Elly enrages Bell.
As entertainment guy at our annual neighborhood fall festival Saturday, I was sitting on a chair in the middle of a cul-de-sac in front of the house where Bell lives. I was painting figures on the faces and wrists of children. My friend Ellen and her dog were minding Elly while I worked. Ellen walked the two dogs on their leashes into the cul-de-sac.
Bell, free to roam among the festival goers, lunged into the crowd and quickly dispatched Elly to the blacktop, Elly’s neck firmly in Bell’s jaws. We quickly broke up the fracas and Elly is no worse for wear.
I’ve since learned Bell has a history of charging and attempting to attack other dogs.
Bell’s owner supports Bush. I, well you know who I don’t support. People murmured about why Bell might do such a thing. I mumbled something about Elly’s liberal roots.
Nominated to Home Owners Association board
Before the fall festivities got underway, we held a brief meeting to appoint a new board. Volunteers, myself included, raised hands to serve. After the meeting the talk turned to electing me president. I immediately remarked, At least one liberal is going to be president in America next year.
Therefore, have faith—err, be encouraged—we’ve already begun to turn this thing around.
The New York Times's Bob Herbert today:
“I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of President Bush's supporters believe the U.S. has come up with "clear evidence" that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Qaeda. A third of the president's supporters believe weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. And more than a third believe that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion.
“This is scary. How do you make a rational political pitch to people who have put that part of their brain on hold? No wonder Bush won.”
The 2004 presidential election by IQ: http://chrisevans3d.com/files/iq.htm://
Thanks to John Dufresne for the link, which is being circulated widely, published by The Economist. Be sure to read John's blog today, especially the midday edition. "We can do this." We must do this.
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Mourning in America
All my friends are depressed. We can’t believe what happened. When GWB (it hurts to write out the full name, hurts even more to use variations of the cute-fawning moniker based on the middle initial) took the 2000 election most of us were incredulous. Many feel it was an unjust presidency anointed by the republican-appointed Supreme Court. We thought we’d have to endure an uneventful, mostly static four years. Events of 9/11/01 changed more than we bargained for. A man named Karl Rove came out of the Oval Office woodwork. Everything Rove did had one driving ambition, the reelection of his boss.
While the neocons were fueling a decade-old white paper on global domination and empire building with their “political capital,” Rove was “energizing the base.” The energizer bunny kept going, and going, and going . . .
All the rules were changed.
We are mourning in America, for now. Then we’ll learn the new rules and again work for a better, a truer, democracy.
Until then, I wanted to share some advice for today from Garrison Keillor. Thanks to Tom Lewis for passing this along. In its entirety.
How to Break the Political Fever
By GARRISON KEILLOR
A true believer offers advice for life after Nov. 2-especially if your man loses.
Politics doesn't come naturally to me. I don't have the old savoir faire. I have a chilly demeanor and a long, sad face that comes from growing up among good people who told me I was going straight to hell. I'm not a salesman - cheerful certainty makes me uneasy.
Nonetheless, last winter, moved by a sense that the beloved country is in peril, I put aside other projects, wrote a political book, knocked on doors and handed out literature (now I know how Jehovah's Witnesses feel), donated a bucket of money and stood up and made stump speeches about the disastrous regime in power, its moral bankruptcy and arrogance. Now, on election eve, I face up to the fact that one man will lose and limp away to join the ranks of noble losers (Eugene V. Debs, Barry Goldwater, George McGovern) while the other one grins and waves and elementary schools are named after him.
So what happens next? The winners smirk and gloat, of course, but what do the losers do?
1) Join the winning party
2) Curse the darkness
3) Move to Vancouver
4) Take up the sins of the flesh, all of them, not leaving out a single one
5) Brood, connive, conspire
A year of passion has come to a boil. Every morning my emailbox is full of forwarded political diatribes and manifestos. I order a sign, 4ft. by 6 ft.--I am actually going to stand by the side of the road and hold it, that's how nuts I am. I take my face to a suburb where Democrats are a sort of alien life-form, and I stand on a bench on a deck in the dark and talk to 80 people shivering in the cold like boat refugees, and I excoriate and extol and exhort in uplifting cadences about this evil war, the miserable economy that is bringing back the 60-hr. work week and the folks who don't mind this war so long as their kids don't have to fight it. Afterward we hobnob in the kitchen and enjoy a little solidarity around coffee and fudge bars, but as I drive home, the car wants to head west out across the prairie, toward the wilderness, away from newspapers and TV and politics, to a cabin, a lake, a boat, a bed, a fire, a book, where I could get this noise out of my head. There are little towns out there where a person could walk around and get leaf smoke up the nostrils and that could pretty well clear the head.
Some in my family are exchanging fiery e-mails, with hard, jagged sentences IN ALL-CAPITAL LETTERS SO THE POINT IS NOT MISSED, and Scripture is quoted and also Mark Twain, the elitist liberal baby killers vs. the Brownshirt storm troopers NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE and what will come of all this on Nov. 3? Some will pick up the morning paper and save it for a souvenir, and the others will wrap up the garbage in it.
What will reconcile us is what has always restored our sanity, and that is the plain pleasures of the physical world, our common love of coffee, the world of apples, the movements of birds, the lives of dogs, the touch of skin. Music. Dancing to music. Shooting baskets. Shooting conservatively, scoring liberally. Lacing up our skates, gliding through the dusk. Having worked ourselves into a fever over the future of Western civilization, we will now begin enjoying our oatmeal again, with raisins, chopped apricots and honey from bees that grazed in meadows of clover. The beauty of engagement is disengagement. You simply put on your jacket and walk out the door and find good health. There is no fever that a 10-mile hike can'tcure.
Twenty years ago, I gave up TV, and now I am going to take a sabbatical from the news and live in the immediate world. The neighbors are expecting a baby girl. My daughter is taking up the cello. My mother is game for more Scrabble. There is wood to be cut in the family woodlot. I've been a prisoner of the New York Times and have read enough for a while and want to get loose. Next week I'm out of here. And maybe the President is too. Crawford, Texas, is a fine place. A man could never weary of the wonders to be found there.
While the neocons were fueling a decade-old white paper on global domination and empire building with their “political capital,” Rove was “energizing the base.” The energizer bunny kept going, and going, and going . . .
All the rules were changed.
We are mourning in America, for now. Then we’ll learn the new rules and again work for a better, a truer, democracy.
Until then, I wanted to share some advice for today from Garrison Keillor. Thanks to Tom Lewis for passing this along. In its entirety.
How to Break the Political Fever
By GARRISON KEILLOR
A true believer offers advice for life after Nov. 2-especially if your man loses.
Politics doesn't come naturally to me. I don't have the old savoir faire. I have a chilly demeanor and a long, sad face that comes from growing up among good people who told me I was going straight to hell. I'm not a salesman - cheerful certainty makes me uneasy.
Nonetheless, last winter, moved by a sense that the beloved country is in peril, I put aside other projects, wrote a political book, knocked on doors and handed out literature (now I know how Jehovah's Witnesses feel), donated a bucket of money and stood up and made stump speeches about the disastrous regime in power, its moral bankruptcy and arrogance. Now, on election eve, I face up to the fact that one man will lose and limp away to join the ranks of noble losers (Eugene V. Debs, Barry Goldwater, George McGovern) while the other one grins and waves and elementary schools are named after him.
So what happens next? The winners smirk and gloat, of course, but what do the losers do?
1) Join the winning party
2) Curse the darkness
3) Move to Vancouver
4) Take up the sins of the flesh, all of them, not leaving out a single one
5) Brood, connive, conspire
A year of passion has come to a boil. Every morning my emailbox is full of forwarded political diatribes and manifestos. I order a sign, 4ft. by 6 ft.--I am actually going to stand by the side of the road and hold it, that's how nuts I am. I take my face to a suburb where Democrats are a sort of alien life-form, and I stand on a bench on a deck in the dark and talk to 80 people shivering in the cold like boat refugees, and I excoriate and extol and exhort in uplifting cadences about this evil war, the miserable economy that is bringing back the 60-hr. work week and the folks who don't mind this war so long as their kids don't have to fight it. Afterward we hobnob in the kitchen and enjoy a little solidarity around coffee and fudge bars, but as I drive home, the car wants to head west out across the prairie, toward the wilderness, away from newspapers and TV and politics, to a cabin, a lake, a boat, a bed, a fire, a book, where I could get this noise out of my head. There are little towns out there where a person could walk around and get leaf smoke up the nostrils and that could pretty well clear the head.
Some in my family are exchanging fiery e-mails, with hard, jagged sentences IN ALL-CAPITAL LETTERS SO THE POINT IS NOT MISSED, and Scripture is quoted and also Mark Twain, the elitist liberal baby killers vs. the Brownshirt storm troopers NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE and what will come of all this on Nov. 3? Some will pick up the morning paper and save it for a souvenir, and the others will wrap up the garbage in it.
What will reconcile us is what has always restored our sanity, and that is the plain pleasures of the physical world, our common love of coffee, the world of apples, the movements of birds, the lives of dogs, the touch of skin. Music. Dancing to music. Shooting baskets. Shooting conservatively, scoring liberally. Lacing up our skates, gliding through the dusk. Having worked ourselves into a fever over the future of Western civilization, we will now begin enjoying our oatmeal again, with raisins, chopped apricots and honey from bees that grazed in meadows of clover. The beauty of engagement is disengagement. You simply put on your jacket and walk out the door and find good health. There is no fever that a 10-mile hike can'tcure.
Twenty years ago, I gave up TV, and now I am going to take a sabbatical from the news and live in the immediate world. The neighbors are expecting a baby girl. My daughter is taking up the cello. My mother is game for more Scrabble. There is wood to be cut in the family woodlot. I've been a prisoner of the New York Times and have read enough for a while and want to get loose. Next week I'm out of here. And maybe the President is too. Crawford, Texas, is a fine place. A man could never weary of the wonders to be found there.
Friday, November 05, 2004
“Peace Begins”
So-called conservatives were writing today some 4,023 of 4,088 counties went for Bush. Now that’s funny because I didn’t have to reread the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution to recall that it begins with, We the people, not “we the counties.” And since the Electoral College is our system, he won, we lost, by some 100,000 votes cast on Diebold machines in Ohio. As I recall, the chairman of Diebold promised Ohio to Bush many months ago.
Some 50 million and more Americans voted to end this horrible Bush-Administration nightmare. Around three million more of the apparently uninformed voted for Bush (they must be watching Fox News and nothing else).
Nothing changed. But I’m convinced it is those who are apathetic to how government does business who are hurting all of us, putting us in great peril. Yes, we are a divided nation and it’s more than rich versus poor. I am convinced now; there is no question that the division is one of intelligence. It is the wise, the educated by choice, versus stupid fools.
I’ve been running on quarter-speed this week, taking stock of myself, soul searching and working on self-improvement.
It must have been incredible naiveté taking hold of my senses. I really believed our hard work and dedication could make a change in a government that lies to send our young people to die in a war for oil and empire, global dominance fueled by hubris. An administration that spends like drunken sailors on war and sends the bill to our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren . . . causes joblessness, reduced wages, wipes out health care for five million people, deletes decades of environmental protection . . . should surely have to pay on Election Day.
I remembered a little Internet presentation circulated in the prewar days. It was worth revisiting. Peace Begins.
http://www.attractinggenuinelove.com/peace1.html
I begin . . .
Some 50 million and more Americans voted to end this horrible Bush-Administration nightmare. Around three million more of the apparently uninformed voted for Bush (they must be watching Fox News and nothing else).
Nothing changed. But I’m convinced it is those who are apathetic to how government does business who are hurting all of us, putting us in great peril. Yes, we are a divided nation and it’s more than rich versus poor. I am convinced now; there is no question that the division is one of intelligence. It is the wise, the educated by choice, versus stupid fools.
I’ve been running on quarter-speed this week, taking stock of myself, soul searching and working on self-improvement.
It must have been incredible naiveté taking hold of my senses. I really believed our hard work and dedication could make a change in a government that lies to send our young people to die in a war for oil and empire, global dominance fueled by hubris. An administration that spends like drunken sailors on war and sends the bill to our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren . . . causes joblessness, reduced wages, wipes out health care for five million people, deletes decades of environmental protection . . . should surely have to pay on Election Day.
I remembered a little Internet presentation circulated in the prewar days. It was worth revisiting. Peace Begins.
http://www.attractinggenuinelove.com/peace1.html
I begin . . .
Thursday, November 04, 2004
We too have a mandate
Many voters will go back to their home fires, confident they have done their jobs for the next four years. Fewer will come back out in two years for the mid-terms. For some of us this is just the beginning of a long, hard road of responsibility. Our mandate comes from an apparently inchoate but promising movement of American patriots resisting the big corporate-media-government-religion merger in progress to hijack democracy for the rich, taking the middle class and poor, yes even “evangelical” voters, for fools.
Don’t count on the media to be on the watch to safeguard us. Be responsible, be wary, crank up the pressure of accountability.
From John Dufresne’s heads up, in his Nov 3 blog:
“Tom (not me) sends this along, suggests listening out of ear shot of the kids. Jon Stewart on the media.”
http://home.cfl.rr.com/jdha/stuff/ecmcotw/JonStewart_WTFH.mp3
As Americans, as Jews, Christians, agnostics, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, Native Americans, free-people-all, our work is cut out for us. The U.S. Constitution and true democracy are on the table and the doctors (quacks) are in.
It won’t be enough to let our one-party government lie. We can’t afford to watch them trip and fell us into more “disastrous success,” wait four years for the duped to come around. We have to help our country all we can and help it now.
More clever . . .
Maureen Dowd
“The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.
“W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a devoted flock of evangelicals, or "values voters," as they call themselves, to the polls by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.
“Mr. Bush, whose administration drummed up fake evidence to trick us into war with Iraq, sticking our troops in an immoral position with no exit strategy, won on "moral issues."
“The president says he's "humbled" and wants to reach out to the whole country. What humbug. The Bushes are always gracious until they don't get their way. If W. didn't reach out after the last election, which he barely grabbed, why would he reach out now that he has what Dick Cheney calls a ‘broad, nationwide victory’?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/opinion/04wills.html?th
. . . and smarter than me.
Garry Wills
“The secular states of modern Europe do not understand the fundamentalism of the American electorate. It is not what they had experienced from this country in the past. In fact, we now resemble those nations less than we do our putative enemies.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/opinion/04wills.html?th
New York attacked again
Thanks to Jon Jaspan.
Makes you want to move to an “island off the coast of Europe,” New York City.
Three of four New York City voters cast ballots for Sen. John Kerry. They seem to know who attacked them on 9/11/04. And they seem to know how Karl GWB Rove hijacked over 3,000 of their dead for a movement intent on turning America into the kingdom of their god, the almighty dollar.
“Some New Yorkers, like Meredith Hackett, a 25-year-old barmaid in Brooklyn, said they didn't even know any people who had voted for President Bush. (In both Manhattan and the Bronx, Mr. Bush received 16.7 percent of the vote.) Others spoke of a feeling of isolation from their fellow Americans, a sense that perhaps Middle America doesn't care as much about New York and its animating concerns as it seemed to in the weeks immediately after the attack on the World Trade Center.”
Read what the people on the streets where this nightmare started have to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/nyregion/04york.html?pagewanted=1
Don’t count on the media to be on the watch to safeguard us. Be responsible, be wary, crank up the pressure of accountability.
From John Dufresne’s heads up, in his Nov 3 blog:
“Tom (not me) sends this along, suggests listening out of ear shot of the kids. Jon Stewart on the media.”
http://home.cfl.rr.com/jdha/stuff/ecmcotw/JonStewart_WTFH.mp3
As Americans, as Jews, Christians, agnostics, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, Native Americans, free-people-all, our work is cut out for us. The U.S. Constitution and true democracy are on the table and the doctors (quacks) are in.
It won’t be enough to let our one-party government lie. We can’t afford to watch them trip and fell us into more “disastrous success,” wait four years for the duped to come around. We have to help our country all we can and help it now.
More clever . . .
Maureen Dowd
“The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.
“W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a devoted flock of evangelicals, or "values voters," as they call themselves, to the polls by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.
“Mr. Bush, whose administration drummed up fake evidence to trick us into war with Iraq, sticking our troops in an immoral position with no exit strategy, won on "moral issues."
“The president says he's "humbled" and wants to reach out to the whole country. What humbug. The Bushes are always gracious until they don't get their way. If W. didn't reach out after the last election, which he barely grabbed, why would he reach out now that he has what Dick Cheney calls a ‘broad, nationwide victory’?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/opinion/04wills.html?th
. . . and smarter than me.
Garry Wills
“The secular states of modern Europe do not understand the fundamentalism of the American electorate. It is not what they had experienced from this country in the past. In fact, we now resemble those nations less than we do our putative enemies.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/opinion/04wills.html?th
New York attacked again
Thanks to Jon Jaspan.
Makes you want to move to an “island off the coast of Europe,” New York City.
Three of four New York City voters cast ballots for Sen. John Kerry. They seem to know who attacked them on 9/11/04. And they seem to know how Karl GWB Rove hijacked over 3,000 of their dead for a movement intent on turning America into the kingdom of their god, the almighty dollar.
“Some New Yorkers, like Meredith Hackett, a 25-year-old barmaid in Brooklyn, said they didn't even know any people who had voted for President Bush. (In both Manhattan and the Bronx, Mr. Bush received 16.7 percent of the vote.) Others spoke of a feeling of isolation from their fellow Americans, a sense that perhaps Middle America doesn't care as much about New York and its animating concerns as it seemed to in the weeks immediately after the attack on the World Trade Center.”
Read what the people on the streets where this nightmare started have to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/nyregion/04york.html?pagewanted=1
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Now what?
Nov 3
The neocons and the Christian right have the White House, U.S. Congress, and soon the Supreme Court. I’ve given up on the media, the selfish kissers of corporate ass. They have the power. Let’s see what they can all do now to make a better country, a better world.
By my estimation we wil be the safest, most moral country with plenty of jobs and great medicine for all.
We had a thunderstorm and the power went out around nine p.m., fell asleep listening to NPR after uneventful early returns. Joy called around midnight, woke me up because she was worried about me. “We lost, Daddy.” I told her I'd be OK. Power was back after three hours and I watched the slow march to counting electoral votes, holding out hope for Ohio, watching upper Midwest states and Nevada. Quite a nightmarish experience.
The neocons and the Christian right have the White House, U.S. Congress, and soon the Supreme Court. I’ve given up on the media, the selfish kissers of corporate ass. They have the power. Let’s see what they can all do now to make a better country, a better world.
By my estimation we wil be the safest, most moral country with plenty of jobs and great medicine for all.
We had a thunderstorm and the power went out around nine p.m., fell asleep listening to NPR after uneventful early returns. Joy called around midnight, woke me up because she was worried about me. “We lost, Daddy.” I told her I'd be OK. Power was back after three hours and I watched the slow march to counting electoral votes, holding out hope for Ohio, watching upper Midwest states and Nevada. Quite a nightmarish experience.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
We did our work
Eighty calls made to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida tonight.
Since the “lead up to war,” we have been engaged.
We want a peacetime president who knows our hearts.
We will defeat a phony wartime president.
I am weary from a long fight, but I am strong in my conviction to defeat Karl Rove and his puppet named George W. Bush. And to put down in the name of America his neoconservatives as they attempt to hijack democracy and hold it hostage to solidify a twisted and deranged movement, a movement decorated with the jewelry of a fabricated new-right republican party intent on awarding itself with the riches of the liberty our founding fathers so diligently created and intended to preserve for the people.
The “good-people-around-him” presidency must now end. We the people get it. We now know that the wolves at our necks are the wolves of evil—the evil that would pray on Sunday, sneak up on us on Monday, and rape us on Friday.
The Bush conspiracy is now well documented. There is not much more to add to the equation because those of us who know what has been going on behind our apathetic backs is revealed as the real spine of evil. And it is the false projection of a twisted backbone of American democracy created by these guys: George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld (and his little mean squirmy staff), ole “Fuck Yourself” Cheney himself, you know who you are.
Peace in great measures to my sisters, my brothers in thought, in heart, who work so hard, who contribute so effortlessly by the actions of their minds.
Eighty calls made to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida tonight.
Since the “lead up to war,” we have been engaged.
We want a peacetime president who knows our hearts.
We will defeat a phony wartime president.
I am weary from a long fight, but I am strong in my conviction to defeat Karl Rove and his puppet named George W. Bush. And to put down in the name of America his neoconservatives as they attempt to hijack democracy and hold it hostage to solidify a twisted and deranged movement, a movement decorated with the jewelry of a fabricated new-right republican party intent on awarding itself with the riches of the liberty our founding fathers so diligently created and intended to preserve for the people.
The “good-people-around-him” presidency must now end. We the people get it. We now know that the wolves at our necks are the wolves of evil—the evil that would pray on Sunday, sneak up on us on Monday, and rape us on Friday.
The Bush conspiracy is now well documented. There is not much more to add to the equation because those of us who know what has been going on behind our apathetic backs is revealed as the real spine of evil. And it is the false projection of a twisted backbone of American democracy created by these guys: George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld (and his little mean squirmy staff), ole “Fuck Yourself” Cheney himself, you know who you are.
Peace in great measures to my sisters, my brothers in thought, in heart, who work so hard, who contribute so effortlessly by the actions of their minds.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Our poll shows Bush defeat, Run for the finish line, folks!
You the people finish this story.
The Redskins lost today, that means Kerry wins. And although The Weekly Reader has never been wrong and shows Bush winning in its poll, a much larger audience, Nickelodeon's 400,000 kid viewers, has Kerry at 56 percent. Neither has ever been wrong but I'd put my nickel on the bigger audience.
Vote. I’ve heard so many excuses. I don’t have time to vote. I haven’t decided yet (it’s the day before the election! Where have you been?) My vote doesn’t count—well that argument doesn’t count. We are in corporate America, if that’s the analogy that works for you. You are a shareholder. It’s your money. Vote!
I have two kids, one is 21 and the other is 23. Based on my knowledge of my two kids and the character of their friends, based on my experience in the trenches with kids like them, I know there is an active movement of new voters that will make the difference in this benchmark year.
I have faith in democracy. Much of that faith emanates from this: The current generation has seen the result of our apathy. They are the change and they are strong. Not only will they carry the day Tuesday, they won’t forget and they will get into the habit of keeping up with what’s going on, the habit of “getting it.”
Then there is the silent majority (thanks, Nixon) but this time they are silent for change and they will show up Tuesday and kick our puppet president out!
From The Washington Post:
“Finally, there is another oddity in some polling this year. In many national polls, Kerry runs better in a subsample of voters in battleground states than he does overall, suggesting that the electorate that has been bombarded by television ads and courted with numerous visits by the candidates may see Bush and Kerry differently than do other voters.
“Matthew Dowd, senior strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign, disagrees, saying his analysis shows that the battleground states generally track national polls. Kerry strategists believe that battleground voters view Bush more negatively than the overall electorate and that that gives Kerry an important advantage.
“Ultimately, the election will test the president's strategy of creating a new GOP electorate and Rove's bet that the key to victory is an energized GOP base. But Democratic pollster Peter Hart, noting the enthusiasm among Democrats, said Rove's calculations may not be taking into consideration an outpouring of anti-Bush votes. "Karl Rove may be energizing too small a percentage" of the electorate.
“As the campaigns gear up their final get-out-the-vote operations, they know that is something that can be answered only on Election Day.”
The whole article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56830-2004Oct23.html
If you want to help, click on this: http://www.campaignwindow.com/gfdgotv/
The Redskins lost today, that means Kerry wins. And although The Weekly Reader has never been wrong and shows Bush winning in its poll, a much larger audience, Nickelodeon's 400,000 kid viewers, has Kerry at 56 percent. Neither has ever been wrong but I'd put my nickel on the bigger audience.
Vote. I’ve heard so many excuses. I don’t have time to vote. I haven’t decided yet (it’s the day before the election! Where have you been?) My vote doesn’t count—well that argument doesn’t count. We are in corporate America, if that’s the analogy that works for you. You are a shareholder. It’s your money. Vote!
I have two kids, one is 21 and the other is 23. Based on my knowledge of my two kids and the character of their friends, based on my experience in the trenches with kids like them, I know there is an active movement of new voters that will make the difference in this benchmark year.
I have faith in democracy. Much of that faith emanates from this: The current generation has seen the result of our apathy. They are the change and they are strong. Not only will they carry the day Tuesday, they won’t forget and they will get into the habit of keeping up with what’s going on, the habit of “getting it.”
Then there is the silent majority (thanks, Nixon) but this time they are silent for change and they will show up Tuesday and kick our puppet president out!
From The Washington Post:
“Finally, there is another oddity in some polling this year. In many national polls, Kerry runs better in a subsample of voters in battleground states than he does overall, suggesting that the electorate that has been bombarded by television ads and courted with numerous visits by the candidates may see Bush and Kerry differently than do other voters.
“Matthew Dowd, senior strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign, disagrees, saying his analysis shows that the battleground states generally track national polls. Kerry strategists believe that battleground voters view Bush more negatively than the overall electorate and that that gives Kerry an important advantage.
“Ultimately, the election will test the president's strategy of creating a new GOP electorate and Rove's bet that the key to victory is an energized GOP base. But Democratic pollster Peter Hart, noting the enthusiasm among Democrats, said Rove's calculations may not be taking into consideration an outpouring of anti-Bush votes. "Karl Rove may be energizing too small a percentage" of the electorate.
“As the campaigns gear up their final get-out-the-vote operations, they know that is something that can be answered only on Election Day.”
The whole article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56830-2004Oct23.html
If you want to help, click on this: http://www.campaignwindow.com/gfdgotv/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)