How to Take to the Streets

4-30-04

2008-07-02T16:32:00.001-07:00

Hey TRUE baby, you're in my head again. I have five minutes to write because I am so busy (hmmm..lots of military maneuvers tonight), and I missed the debates.

I guess by now you've met my friend Johnny. Not the 'anybody but Bush" straw man, but the hero who talks like a senator because that's what he is, bitches.
"Because of his mother's narrow escape from the Nazi armies, John Kerry learned that there is indeed evil in the world which no amount of money or privilege can deflect. Living in post-war Berlin during one of his father's diplomatic postings, Kerry saw the bombed-out buildings, the refugees who were everywhere, and the tens of thousands of people who left everything behind to flee the Soviet sector. Kerry learned that such evil must be confronted. In the experiences of his parents, John Kerry developed the nuanced, intricate and informed view of the wider world that has since defined his life".

He will end the war in Iraq.

However, at this late date, this is a little better than stopping the bleeding.

We need to roll up our sleeves. Lock and load like I said before.

Think about our neighbors and cousins still over there on their way home.
"Is Anyone Really Prepared to Kill?"

"Many say Americans must learn to be honest about the nature of combat. In a culture saturated with media violence, killing has become almost trivialized. Many veterans have the wrenching experience of being asked, "How many people did you kill?"

"They should not be treated as some sort of figure from a video game," says French.

Throughout history, cultures have had various means to purge warriors of their combat experience and help them readjust to civilian life. "Many had purification rites the whole community took part in," Shay says. In ancient Greece, drama provided a cathartic experience for the veterans and the community. Some African societies today have cleansing ceremonies that reintegrate fighters into community life.

He would like to see some interdenominational, nonpartisan civil or religious rite in the US that goes beyond parades and welcome-home ceremonies.

"People coming back from having killed aren't necessarily injured, but need to purify themselves," he says. "And we sent them and need to be purified, too."

Man your positions.

Resist the draft- Bring it on .
Listen to the dissent of returning warriors - Bring It On.
It bears repeating - Resisting the motherfucking draft- Bring It ON
Be a Vote Jedi- Bring It On

Tim, Matt, Hera, Curt, all the regular crew, we need you.
Bring it on.

Who's ready for a march of mothers and disgruntled Filipino boys? What will you bring to the squad?

Whew, gotta get back to my position. Get ready to welcome home these boys I'm talking to, with a "new dream".

A poem by Alice Walker:

Two: S.M.
I tell you, Chickadee
I am afraid of people
who cannot cry
Tears left unshed
turn to poison
in the ducts
Ask the next soldier you see
enjoying a massacre
if this is not so.
People who do not cry
are victims
of soul mutilation
paid for in Marlboros
and trucks.
Resist.
Violence does not work
except for the man
who pays your salary
Who knows
if you could still weep
you would not take the job.

6-09-04

2008-07-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

If it takes me a week to decide whether or not I have anything to say on this Bush Fuckery, does that mean I don't?

Does anyone else have some uuuuggggglllllyyy memories regarding parties?
Show of hands? I'll go first.

I could always do without other people easier than anyone I knew.

Teenagers hate this. Especially girls. Parties were hell.

Concerts were tolerable because I went alone.

I was always the only girl in my milieu who had ever even heard of the bands I wanted to see, so I got used to going alone. Then I preferred it. Then a funny thing happened- I got asked backstage. There was always a party going on, but the people I wanted to hang with were always alone, too.

There is always at least one member of a band who wants to hook up with an attractive fellow Voluntary Hermit for a mutual communion of silence. There's at least one in every group like us. We love you all. We appreciate the music as much as you. We want to party, at least in the abstract. We just aren't very into it.

So that's the kind of guest I am. Invite me, and I always come. Or go.

The last night I went to that tired old bar the Odyssey, I was dragged by friends who found my isolation insulting. "Let's just go. Maybe you'll meet a guy, or run into some old friends."

As the car passed the DuPar's sign,I knew I wanted to be home alone drinking Pernod and staring at the wall. Inside the Odyssey the music was horrible, the vibe cold, and I ditched everyone.
I heard footsteps behind me as I walked outside. I thought it was Orion, running away from the music over my head.

I was so sick of being alive, tired of everybody I knew, that I hardly noticed when some dude exuding speed sweat grabbed me . He threw me against a parked car in an awkwardly romantic way. His blue eyes went dreamy when he described how he would stuff dirt in my vagina and mouth after he killed me because I wasn't acting scared enough

I asked myself what I thought was happening.

"This is rape", I said.
"What?" came a comical voice from inside the car we were struggling against.

It was a friend I had lost touch with,a Mod who worked at Bonwit Teller. He was crying against the chest of another mutual friend. He had waited two years to talk to a boy who had just rejected him.

He got out and sniffed me.
"That's the same perfume my sister uses".
Thus did I become a person, and not an incipient victim.
And my attacker let me go.
He meandered away as if waking up from a nap.

Mod Dude and I had a cigarette together, watching the scene literally dissolve. Rapist Dude broke character and ambled onto one of the busses chugging through the city full of East L.A. natives who had never seen the beach. I looked back up at the nightclub, and wondered what did I think was in that for me? The stories are out here.
"What happened?", asked Mod Dude.

"I met a guy and ran into some old friends", I said.

There is always the truth behind the facts, like the real Forrest Gump said.

So when someone gets in my face about prison torture photos, or the Nick Berg snuff film, I think, okay that's what happened. But what really happened? Who were those people before they became propaganda-objects?

Who knows the stories of the innocents who die alone, despised for not acting scared enough?

And TRUE, and Sterling are goddamn right about not wanting to be victims.
If you can look around and say "This is rape", you're no longer prey. Not what anybody else will try and make you.

So uuuhhh, yeah, topic.

I always show up where I'm invited,and I hate to come empty-handed. Hit the bell with your elbow, you know.

If I can bring anything to this party, I can find, listen to, and remember the stories.
The off-center points. The opposite of truth in Greek isn't untruth, but oblivion. So I guess my place at this thing will be the equvialent of the guy getting cried on in that car. The person who hears and sees the stories of how you got to the party.

So, hermits and lurkers? I feel you, and I want to see you there too.

"...Ma's eyes passed Rose of Sharon's eyes, and then came back to them. And the two women looked deep into each other. The girl's breath came short and gasping.

She said, "Yes".
Ma smiled. "I knowed you would. I knowed it!"
....Rose of Sharon loosened one side of the blanket and bared her breast. ...She looked up and across the barn and smiled mysteriously."

- John Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath

I was right. I don't have anything to say.

6-11-04

2008-07-02T16:28:00.001-07:00

Because he lit matches just to see some light before he lost his sight forever;
because he could dance like a mofo sitting down behind a piano;
because he mopped his brow with "Can't Stop Loving You", said here, all y'all crackers, you can have your song back, it's mine now;
because he was the inspiration for a kickass Joan Osborne lyric;
because he never denied his drug use , but didn't milk an outlaw image;
because he stole every scene he was in in SNL and Blues Brothers;
because he was beautiful, never knew and didn't give a damn.....

...I was proud to have been in a world with his music in it.

Rest in peace Brother Ray.

May the Lord rest your sweet soul.

6-13-04

2008-07-02T16:25:00.001-07:00

So, how are everyone's travel plans going?

Anybody coming from the Miwok Rez territory? Time to circle the wagons. Carpool and caravan are such lame-ass words for such a revolutionary act.

N8 , you're right. Americans are a metaphor for fat slow cars blocking up the fast lane. Our idea of activity runs a short gamut of filling up a cart with crap at K-Mart, to asshole-to-armpit channel surfing from Man Show reruns to that tornface cow Coulter on FOXNews, and back.

No wonder we only feel real bumping along to mass bass in a bigass car.

Unless you count sitting alone in front of free Internet porn .

Never mind both trips are equally as self-limiting as the blind mule turning a mill wheel, or a fattening chicken amok in a stony hen-run.

Okay,I'm picking you up, so be ready. Get in the car. Hit the road. Budge up and make room, and get off my map.Quit fighting back there, kids. If you drink all that you're going to want to pee, and I'm not stopping.

Who are you going as? Where will you stay? Do you have a bail bondsman, firstaid kit, digital camera, Hitachi wand?

Whether we find ourselves at the Skullfuck Bush Soiree, or anywhere else, at least we're not all asleep at the wheel anymore.

We're not on the road to nowhere and running like hell to get there.

(C'mon, what do you people want from me on my last hour of overtime, Michel Foucault? Christ.)

Oh, and since it hasn't been said here in awhile - FUCK BUSH.

6-17-04

2008-07-02T16:23:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's better to let someone else tell it.

"As if as if British or American soldiers had not only executed German prisoners of war, but had force-marched them to Dachau in order to commit the atrocity"-
in case you've already quit thinking about Abu Ghraib .

I sure hope there was air-conditioning in that coffin because hell will get hotter when he gets there.
' A rictus of senile fury'

It's gettin' hot in herre.

Oh, FUCK BUSH .
Fuck him with an Irish broom.

Have a nice weekend. It'll all be alright.

6-21-04

2008-07-02T16:22:00.001-07:00

Okay, the Iraq handover is getting better planning than the SkullFuck Bush tea-dance.

So, que onda?

This thing is set to happen in less than two months, and it's still in the finger-fucking stage.

I took it upon myself to invite a few folks.

First, I sent an e-mail to Mr. Morning Fix - he's PoMo like a mofo, but he has what used to be called 'wet dream demographics'.

There's the NYC Craigslist, which I brought up before, but they didn't like the words 'Fuck' or 'kill'- (and I'm still working on a press release to beat the Gold Standard, Sean's weblog link, May 29).

These people look pretty intense ,but if they were planning a week in my town, I'd invite them.

MRTT is now on the official NYC Regional Edition of the Burning Man Events Letter, Afterglow . Not exactly a hip-hop crowd, but they know how to party with a vengeance and a conscience. They also have good drugs.

That's all I could think of for now.

It was the least I could do. And I always do the least I can do.

Now what? Ferris? Anybody?

P.S.- Jeroen, Wat denk u Nederlandse von ons Americannen?

6-30-04

2008-07-02T16:20:00.001-07:00

I'm in a bad mood today.

I think it's because I haven't showered yet. You know how you can feel on a hot day, when there's no water pressure to wash your hair good? Or on a cold day when there's not enough hot water for a good long bath?

A few years ago, I remember reading in Soldier of Fortune magazine a story about a medal being considered for certain types of valour.

You know, the kind of grown-up, shuthefuckup and suck it up type of fortitude that's so out of style these days. A medal for being able to go long periods without food, without sleep, without water, without complaining.

Rumor had it that it was scrapped when it was discovered that only non-white Americans were being considered as candidates.

I can dig it.

I spent the hottest part of every summer for many years on a reservation that would make Manzanar look like the O.C. The running water was dependent on a well, which was dependent on a very iffy electricity system. If the electricity went out, no water.

If you wanted to throw something away, you burned or buried it.
You had to pay for things you hauled to the dump.

And, one of the reasons Vollman's Unwashed Depressive portrait so captured my imagination is because no matter how depressed I was, or how scarce the hot water, I made myself presentable every single day.

I went to middle-school dances groomed in nothing more than a half-cup of boiled water and some Dr. Bronner's. Smoked those O.C. chicks, too. Self-respect.

"Attention to the lower parts is the first rule of self-respect"- Collette.

Now, imagine all the things you do to get pumped out of a lull.

I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who would have wanted that medal, and I am dependent on the grid to get myself up for the day ahead.

From the Zen-loke void of a post-espresso crap, to the hot shower and clean towel, to your hair drying just the right way, to the soundtrack morning music, what would we do without water and electricity?

Imagine going for months with no power.

Literally.

Imagine sitting in your home too hot to move, with maybe just enough clean water for baby formula or to flush the toilet once, but not both. Imagine the hopelessness and proven psychological stress of prolonged heat. Picture pursuing your self-actualization with no reliable electricity or clean water.

I flatter myself...but I couldn't get my game on to look for a job under those conditions, let alone rebuild my poor bleeding country.

Last weekend, I went to an outdoor concert in 100+ degree heat. I paid to be there and it was still intense and brutal. And it got me thinking, what if our FUCK BUSH party were held under those conditions? How perky and sassy and kickass can you be when you feel power-less?

So, here's the deal;
If you have to travel as far as I do to Bring The Beef, and if you're as broke as I am, you'll probably be feeling-not-so-fresh at the big FuckBushProm.

Do what my Catholic grandma used to call 'offering it up for a sacrifice'.

Represent.

Get your game face on like our missing party-people.

For every BTB-er who washes up in a bus depot, you are partying on behalf of a National Guardswoman burying used tampons in the desert.
For every hungover road-tripper showing up with a rockin' bedhead; a Gitmo detainee cleans up with baby wipes before seeing his wife for the first time in a year.
Your perfect outfit wrinkled enroute? Shake your ass once or twice for the Iraqi mom boiling the same bandages over and over for her baby's wounds.

We are all in the same blood-filled gutter, looking at the stars.
Someone has to prime the pump to the well to wash it all away.

Dance yourself clean. Sweat like you're crying.

And remember- first round's on Fitz.

7-9-04

2008-07-02T16:19:00.001-07:00

(yes, I know, the title quote is from Stonewall not Warriors. Your point?)

I haven't written because I'm angry that I'm not going.
I'm ashamed to admit both those things- the anger, and the not-going.

TRUE is relying on us (surely not just me) to keep this thing afloat. Reliable is the new hot, so I'm here.

But I'm confused.

We are all just standing around like we're being milked, and I can't decide why.

My gut feeling is to resist anything "anti". And the purpose of Skull Fuck Bush, title aside, is "pro" - a positive alternative to the us-against-them bullshit that is so evident on the political scene. A party to bring down the house (of Bush).

But I must say, that I don't want to be the first one to admit I chose not to go.

Reliability, you know.

I'm not a veteran, but most of my co-workers are.

And some of them are being called up this week.

One- the one whose shift I'll be covering the week of FuckBush- has a three-day-old son.

He's going back to Iraq for the second time. And he completed his four years in the Marines in 1998.

With all the usual mental machinations I put myself through before having any fun, I also keep thinking, how perfect is this?

Mom never got to go to any of the Teach-Ins that turned into Love-Ins back in the day either. She just helped plan them.

It isn't just a matter of resolving, do I get the vacation days, or do I have any cool club clothes.

But I DO NOT believe that 'actions' or protests are for other people.

This just seemed like a relevant detail.
There are people who plan giant disco political subversions, and people who fill in for warriors, and we know each other.

We are the same people.

So, don't do the all-or-nothing thinking thing, kids.

Just because you might not being going to our party (and I still consider it ours), you can write. You fucking well better write here. Do you think this blog will just go away in a month? Hell no.

Just because you don't write like MadPony or Tony Pierce, you can write here. I'm doing it, fer Crissakes.

I just want to remind everyone you don't have to be Micheal Moore to be conscious.
As my son used to say , boogers are true, but so are kittens.

Someone else take the mike.....

"Life's like a firework,
You're only lit once,
And you must stand and radiate correctly"- XTC

7-12-04

2008-07-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

Nothing profound here, I just noticed that my nephew has found someone else to pester for awhile.

I plan to maintain a dignified peaceful non-co-operation.

Peace.

7-14-04

2008-07-02T16:15:00.001-07:00

I was dreaming with a raging fever when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray.

I mean, I've already accepted that some of us aren't going to make it to the actual party, and there have been some articulate posts about where we do want to be and what we could be doing.

But I'm not exactly comfortable wearing a FUCK BUSH t-shirt.

I'm not comfortable with the idea that buying or wearing something is the same as doing something. But I was raised by 'skins and hippies, so what do I know.

The point is, 90 % of America- particularly the lower-middle-class- identify themselves by what they buy and wear.

We are doing here what Micheal Moore did with Fahrenheit 9-11- changing the quality of the product, not trying to change people. That makes us (that word again) not comfortable.

Young people want a loud, bright, summer movie. MM gave us one.
Americans want to support the troops by filling up a cart with crap at Costco and flying made-in-Palua flags. We love to declare our taste and judgement via a sportswear line.

I was once bequeathed an authentic WWI Field Nurse uniform. I wore to a concert that same night. A month later, I saw a row of them for sale in the window at Flip's.

Bush knew what he was doing when he told us to shop for freedom.

Why not sell a BTB version of those shirts via this site?

N8?

As for me, I'm voting dressed as a Mother of the Disappeared.

I can't make New York in August, but by October, I plan to drive across the godforsaked redneck moonscape of Arizona to do the post-modern Freedom Rider thing.

More ideas at Fatty McBlowhard's website.

But first, I have to get over this damn fever. I should know better than to watch CNN.

"We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."

- Abraham Lincoln

7-16-04

2008-07-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've just tried four different times to write a cohesive op-ed piece on how I feel about this topic, and I can't .
Just the facts-
One day in America courtesy of the Bush Administration-

Interior Secretary Gail Norton announced at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minn., that the grey wolf should be removed from federal protection from Maine to the Dakotas.
American soldiers rape Iraqi boys in U.S. custody; capture their hijinx on film.
My neighbor comes home dead, but not dishonored; his mother slams Bush, invites the press to the funeral.

I notice this today because this was the news I was reading while waiting to see my Paid Friend.

For once, I didn't feel like a crazy bitch because I think a world with wolves in it has more value than one deeded over to Halliburton.

For once, I don't think it's just 'post-traumatic-related referred depression' when I go out of my mind with disgust and grief at my country's defense department systematically turning good citizens into conscienceless rapists and murderers.

My dad was always telling us how lucky we were we didn't know what war was like.

We didn't know what war was like, because he never talked ,about anything. But we weren't lucky. All five of us have some degree of PTSD.

Killing hurts. Killing violates the soldier and degrades the culture. Wartime killing allows the cat-firework-cornholing element of the population to excercise theirsadism on a grand scale.

Odysseus only took twenty years to get back to normal. Most combat veterans aren't as lucky.

In the middle ages, people who didn't party around the roasting of heretics were ridiculed too.

One witness to the burning of Joan of Arc, one of her executioners, in fact, gave her a cross to hold that he made from the pyre. Her last words, "God Bless you", were to him.

I want to be something better than that man.

La Coursier de Jeanne D'Arc- Linda McCarriston

You know that they burned her horse
before her. Though it is not recorded,
you know that they burned her Percheron
first, before her eyes, because you

know that story, so old that story,
the routine story, carried to its
extreme, of the cruelty that can make
of what a woman hears a silence,

that can make of what a woman sees
a lie. She had no son for them to burn,
for them to take from her in the world
not of her making and put to its pyre,

so they layered a greater one in front of
where she was staked to her own--

2008-07-02T16:12:00.001-07:00

Since I'm the only one around today....

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner".- James Bovard

A good reason why your unemployed, red-state,anti-gay-marriage dad needs to know he's this year's dinner - Get Mad .

Thanks for the props for yesterday's post, yallknowwhoyouare, but why are you hearing this stuff from a piss-ant, tenth-rate blogger like me, and not in the media?

Get mad.

U.S. Journalists don't know shit from shinola.
Bring 'em on.

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what They want, and they desrve to get it good and hard". - H.L. Mencken

"Radiohumper, you should get a life"

Sure. Tell me where.

7-24-04

2008-07-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

support our troops. warning- don't watch while yer eating lunch.
oh dude

nemmine skull fuck bush. i want cheney's dried up old nads on a triscuit.

(posted by yrsitesuxballs url www.spr.org)
thanks auntie

7-29-04

2008-07-02T16:09:00.001-07:00

I'm a piece of fucking white trash, i say it proudly
And fuck this battle
I don't wanna win
I'm outty
Here tell these people sumin they dont know about me

8-03-04

2008-07-02T16:06:00.001-07:00

Why wouldn't someone rather vote for Bush than for Kerry?
Can you name one difference between them? Not if you only watch mainstream news.

Mr. Kerry proposes spending $650 billion extending health insurance to lower- and middle-income families. Whether you approve or not, you can't say he hasn't addressed the issue. Why hasn't this voter heard about it?

Well, I've been reading 60 days' worth of transcripts from the places four out of five Americans cite as where they usually get their news: the major cable and broadcast TV networks. Never mind the details - I couldn't even find a clear statement that Mr. Kerry wants to roll back recent high-income tax cuts and use the money to cover most of the uninsured. When reports mentioned the Kerry plan at all, it was usually horse race analysis - how it's playing, not what's in it.

On the other hand, everyone knows that Teresa Heinz Kerry told someone to "shove it," though even there, the context was missing. Except for a brief reference on MSNBC, none of the transcripts I've read mention that the target of her ire works for Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire who financed smear campaigns against the Clintons - including accusations of murder. (CNN did mention Mr. Scaife on its Web site, but described him only as a donor to "conservative causes.") And viewers learned nothing about Mr. Scaife's long vendetta against Mrs. Heinz Kerry herself.
(Triumph of the Trivial,truthout.org)
Yeah, but Kerry is a flip-flopper. Bush is a man of faith.

Biologist Richard Dawkins, in the essay Mind Viruses, defines 'faith as a source of knowledge' as one such mind virus;
"The patient typically finds himself impelled by some deep, inner conviction that...something that doesn't owe anything to evidence or reason , he feels as totally compelling and convincing....we doctors refer to such a belief as 'faith'....

indeed, they may feel the less evidence there is, the more virtuous the belief...."Hmmm. WMD, anybody?

"The sufferer may find himself behaving intolerantly toward vectors of rival faiths, in extreme cases even killing them (no shit) .
...the prognosis is poor unless he becomes open to modes of thought (emphasis mine- fat chance) that are potentially inimical to his faith, such as the method of scientific reason that may function rather like a piece of antiviral software. If not, this can lead only to greater self-destruction in service of his virtuous beliefs."

Thank the God of the rationalist founders of this constitution for an intelligent man who can change course when the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

"Men will cease to commit atrocites only when they cease to believe absurdities."

- Voltaire

8-1-04

2008-07-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

If you can't make it to Crobar,another way for two people to
cut a dash in the Big Apple.

Edit- I don't advocate faking the wheelchair stuff. Not with folks like these around.

Big ups to pointreyes@gmail.com for the 2 Person Protest link.

8-03-04

2008-07-02T16:02:00.001-07:00

Burning Man/NYC Mailing List forwarded me this.

Yo! Where were you? I only was there on Friday.

The city of Boston built a pen with fencing and barbed wire. There was a
microphone with a speaker facing an empty parking lot. Maux with the big
mouth was the only one who was heard.

Most of the people there were Kucinich fans and wacko conspiracy peeps.
There was a small Vienam Vets against Kerry march and once cute old man with
flags and Bush signs trying to stay conscious.

A group of us put on black hoods and tied out hands behind our backs.
(Remember, my friends, the Dems voted for the Patriot Act.) All in all, the
cops were very cool, even with their riot gear. They were tired and working
overtime.

Then Faux took the stage in the pen. I am loud, so the Conventioneers could
hear me.

The Conventioneers were casually waling in after 2PM in thier suits, after a
night of partying with movie stars and Al Sharpton. (I tried to get into
the NY Delegation Party, but the organizer told the cops that I was trying
to "buy" a ticket. The cop told me to leave.)

So the Conventioneers were coming in and for a half hour, I haranged them.

"Why did you put a knife into the beatiful Social Security System. Why?
Why?" I cried. Some stopped to listen. (If you recall, they tried to
fillibuster the evil "drug benefits" bill, but some Dems didn't even bother
to show up to vote!) "How could you do this to me?" "to us?" (They duped
the AARP and the damage has been done.) Social Secuity is on a
privatization track. "The Social Securoty System was so beautiful.
Perfect. How could you? "The PR about SSA running out of money is a LIE.
You know it is!" Some actually agreed.

"The Patriot Act. I went to the doctor two weeks later and WAS TOLD that my
medical records were now public record. I was not 'asked' to agree. I was
told! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?" I cried some more.

I admitted in front of cameras and video that I can not see a psychiatrist
now because it is no longer safe to do so. "My psychiatric history could be
used against me!" More tears. I hate shrinks anyway, but I got a few of
them to stop and listen. I guess they never thought of that!

BIG PLUG

Ruben Zamora came INTO the pen and spoke to me. He is running against
Dennis Hastert, the EVIL SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE!

Ruben Zamora, http://www.rubenforcongress.org

Ruben represents the 14th District of Illinois....so pass this on to your IL
friends. Get this guy elected. This man gave me hope.

Hastert's website has the info on the toens and cities in the 14th District.
http://www.house.gov/hastert/district.shtml

Ruben website is a mess. Let's hope for HOPE.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT RNC PROTEST... I am still trying to swallow the DNC
experience. When I come up with a good idea....

P.S. I had a poster reading "Who's Next" stuck on my chest while in the
hood and chains. I also cried out "Boobs Not Bombs!" Hundreds of photos
were taken. If you see one, send it on....

heh! I am loving you. Let's make it happen!

Peace and love,

faux

Faux Maux

- Worthiness of mention to be determined......

8-6-04

2008-07-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the same thing the Springsteen camp is doing, only stupider-

Straight Talk from George Bush

He really nails those juicy Texas consonants. Funny stuff.

Edited to add- the author of Maus takes on 9-11.

"I wanted to address my own self-loathing...."

Speigelman portrays himself as a pot-bellied unshaven bum in a cheerleader uniform.
Hmmm.

2008-07-02T15:59:00.001-07:00

Reasons why we need to support Kerry, and not just get rid of Bush, part III is a series;
-Kerry is the only viable opponent. He's what there is. Deal.
(edited to add - He gives a shit about your voting rights.)
Reasons why you should be possessed with an insane desire for vengence at the way we've been punked by Team Bush;
-According to The Writing on the Latrine Walls , William Rivers Pitt, the Project for a New American Century had plans as early as 2000 to fabricate a premise for war with Iraq.

In 2000, the membership was relatively power-less,"...preshensile gnomish powerplayers scuttling back to their right-wing think tanks, after being too crazy even for Bush 1", according to one source.

Impressive roster, though.
Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States, former CEO of Halliburton;
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense;
Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense;
Elliot Abrams, National Security Council;
John Bolton, Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security;
I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's top National Security assistant.

Reasons why this gang went from Washington footnote to Mordred Impersonators:
-Hanging chads, corrupt justices and a ball-less Senate.

Stated goals of the 'Project'- "The invasion and occupation of Iraq, for reasons that had nothing to do with Saddam Hussein. The building of several permanent military bases in Iraq, the purpose of which are to telegraph force throughout the region. The takeover by Western petroleum corporations of Iraq's nationalized oil industry. The ultimate destabilization and overthrow of a variety of regimes in the Middle East, friend and foe alike, by military or economic means, or both."

The headline from the Najaf latrine wall, reported by a wildcat embedded journalist and told to Pitt-
-"The troops aren't hunting terrorists or building a country," said the Reuters photographer. "All they do is guard the convoys running north and south. The convoys north are carrying supplies and empty tankers for the oil fields around Mosul and Tikrit. The convoys south bring back what they pull out of the ground up there. That's where all these kids are getting killed. They get hit with IEDs while guarding these convoys, and all hell breaks loose."

An estimated 50 to 70 % of American casualties, amputations and disfigurements, in addition to deaths,occur on the convoy detail protecting oil for the United Subsidiaries of Halliburton.

Quick review- did this group fail in meeting all its goals?

930 Americans and thousands of Iraqis dead. No weapons of mass destruction. No connection between Al Queda and Saddam. No established democracy. No rebuilt infrastructure. No rose petals in the path of the 'dumb, racist jackasses" handpicked by 'contractors' to shoot at any Iraqi kid or old lady who gets in the way of the oil.

I'd have to give all those a failing grade.

One goal is more than met, however.

While your wife's job has been shipped offshore, and your son's health insurance has been cut from your policy, and your mother's prescriptions have tripled in cost,

Halliburton and its sister company has been counting up the bucks with hands dripping with blood;

"According to the Center for Public Integrity, Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root has made $11,475,541,371 in Iraq as of July 1. So that's one PNAC goal checked off the list."

That's not all Iraqi oil money. That's cash coming out of the future of your children and grandchildren to pay for this neo-con fuckaround.

Reasons why this makes me mad,

1) Nobody asked my opinion.
2) I might have other plans for that 11 billion.
3) I would rather be laying in bed with a pile of s'mores reading I, Robot, than feeling driven to write this stuff.

Now, there's an ending I could cheer.

In the meantime, can't anybody agree to help me to get these losers out of our White House?

Even if you have to hold your nose and vote?
Don't make me quote Jim Morrison.

8-10-04

2008-07-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Turd in a punchbowl here.
I just want to get clear on what this party will be about. What is the goal? Too many Type-A genuiuses involved here for there not to be a goal.

I'm discouraged today, not just because I can't go. I keep tripping on the reason I can't go. I'm filling in for a co-worker Reservist whose going to Iraq for the second bastard time.

I've said that here before, but MRRT isn't required reading, more like a Hometown Buffet where you can pass up the sprouts for the frozen yogurt machine. That's cool.

And TRUE is inspiring us to be part of this, no matter what we have to contribute.
So, I'm giving up my discontent.

Celebrities? I did approach some. If they are big enough to reflect some wattage, they have a shitload of riders and demands. If they are small enough to be approachable, they have a way of making everything all about them.

And, goddammit, I am still aware that people are dying in that shithole. A teenager from Navajo Nation and a 26-year old Nigerian immigrant died this weekend. We didn't hear about it because we handed over Iraq, haven't you heard?

What is making my dancing shoes gather dust is this -

"You have a smaller percentage of the American public in Iraq than in any other conflict. You have a deeper detachment between the average American and the average American soldier than ever." - from Operation Truth

My cousin Genaro died in Vietnam when the rest of his class had their graduation trip to NYC. My grandmother sold his cruise jacket with the dragon embroidery on ebay to pay for her heart medication. Some size-2 scenester is wearing it around Hollywood now and feeling benevolent.

I want to invite the brothers and neighbors of the 'fallen' to have free drinks and rub elbows with dyke strippers. Fuck celebrities.
If I could invite all those guys to Crobar, I would.

If there's a goal I just haven't seen, please lay it down.

Otherwise, it's just karaoake while Rome burns.

8-18-04

2008-07-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hey hey Beef kids.

I have a splitting fucking headache for two days and a summer cold, and I haven't felt like writing, but I think that may be the right state of mind for this story-

"Protest peacefully and get discounts in the Big Apple..including cut-rate entry to the Museum of Sex!, and deep discounts to the show "Naked Boys Singing" to the most well-behaved protestors".

I am working on a thoughtful well-researched piece on how we came to be the Pig of the World, Skinnerian lab rats who can be bought with SUVs and Nikes, but I feel too much like fuck pie to finish it.

So I'll just say, can someone please design a piss-take on this button, and wear it with pride to the SKullfuck Bush party?

Preferably while shooting Ann Coulter a beaver at extremely close range?

Christ, how is a person supposed to recover their health in an environment like this.

8-23-04

2008-07-02T15:52:00.001-07:00

Welcome JG. Real blogger story there.

I tried to stay away for a weekend.

MRRT is a drug, I'm addicted.

The Writing Prompt was,

When is Goofus more Gallant?

1) " Protest, even more than property, is a sacred resource of American society. It begins with radical minorities at the margins, eventually marching into the mainstream, where their views become the majority sentiment. Prophetic minorities instigated the American Revolution, ended slavery, achieved the vote for women, made trade unions possible, and saved our rivers from becoming sewers...

"...shall we trade this rich heritage for the convenience of those who want to preserve their Republican authority, like the grass in Central Park, from being impacted by our marching feet? For those who would manage protesters like so many wild beasts in cages? For those who infect our culture with the false claim that in a time of terror we must fear dissent?

"The Bronx Cheer should not be stilled."
I agree. I think.

2) "Red-hot rage may seem in order when the country's values have been trampled upon by a government with a dubious claim to legitimacy. Yet the theatrics of rage can easily play into Bush's hands. Righteousness, if not rooted in humility and focused on results--on persuasive power--will offend more than it attracts and fall victim to its own arrogance, as surely as arrogance undercuts Bush.

"..The power of nonviolence rests in its welcoming spirit, its power to elicit identification and its promise of reconciliation. Consider the brave young men and women of the civil rights movement, sitting with dignity at lunch counters throughout the South. In film footage of the time, you can see them attacked by uncivilized whites, who curse them, beat them--and thus reveal themselves as bullies and cowards. The civilly disobedient cover themselves in self-defense but never raise their hands in anger. They appeal over their adversaries' heads to the majority who, they believe--they have to believe--will see the justice of their cause.

"...As thousands of Republicans gather to nominate Bush for re-election, and as many more protesters--perhaps fifty times more--gather to express themselves against the damage Bush is doing, Americans of all stripes will be watching. Fair-minded people can understand dignified opposition even when they disagree with it. Rage in the streets is something else altogether. Protesters who spell "Bush" with a swastika, who smash windows, fight the police or try to block Manhattan commuters might as well stay home and send their contributions to the Republicans".

Number 1 is by former Jane Fonda consort and flaming shitheel Tom Hayden.

Number 2 is from The Nation.

"Americans think everything would be solved if we just talked about our differences.
We think everything would be solved if people would simply act decent"
- from the Indian Culture Test, Zompist Metaverse

8-24-04

2008-07-02T15:51:00.001-07:00

I just got up from a weird dream.

No lie.

Jenna Bush was telling TRUE's buddy "I'll suck your cock for a thousand dollars."

Then I woke up and turned off the DVD player.

I took it as a sign.

Still half asleep, I googled "Lebowski" "party" and "suck", and got

these people.

Then I sent them an email.

Then I saw TRUE's latest, and quit feeling like such a goddamned OCD twit for caring so much about a party I can't go to.

Now can I get some sleep?

2008-07-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

... I associate it

with

pleasure.

Oh yes, another reason to SkullFuck Bush.

Please, vote for John Kerry.

Because, serving your country when it would be just as easy to avoid it then lie about, is NOT a small detail.

Because, some of my best friends joined up out of patriotism or limited options, and they are fucking pissed about what's happening there.

And if you call them liars and flip-floppers, you deserve the Turd in Chief we have now.

In this quest for understanding, it turns out that Iraq veterans have much in common with their older compatriots who fought in Vietnam. Both groups were involved in a confusing counterinsurgency war conducted in an alien, hostile environment against a nonwhite enemy as elusive as he was dangerous. The result in both cases was an atrocity-producing situation -- one structured militarily and psychologically so that ordinary soldiers with no special history of violence or antisocial behavior were suddenly capable of killing or torturing civilians who were loosely designated as "the enemy."

A significant number of Vietnam veterans found meaning in opposing their war while it was in progress. The hearings on American war crimes and the throwing away of medals were their way of rejecting the war and holding not just themselves but their country accountable.

Their impact on the nation was different from that of other antiwar protesters because they were able to bring the Vietnam death scene directly to the American public, as John Kerry did in his 1971 testimony before a US Senate subcommittee, when he asked, "How we can ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

-from today's Truthout Editorial

Angelina cracks herself up.
Me too - today when I registered to vote, the Republican volunteer asked if I knew what their party platform was.

"Yes,", I said "Stick-with-me-and-you'll-be-farting-through-silk-while-the-world-goes-to hell".

The guy behind me said he'd buy that on a t-shirt.

So I told him to write it on his money.

Hey- friends?

When you're partying at Crobar, buy a soldier a drink from me, would you?

And vote for my favorite John.

edited to add- the best real-time RNC reporting besides TRUE is found at Truthout

2008-07-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

If I were there, I would wear a good old-time punk tampon-bra of purple-paint-soaked band-aids.

I would hand out purple pasties to all the topless dykes.

The antitode to death is dancing. Y'all got the dancing covered, I just had to share this-

Band-Aids, Bullets, and Broken Hearts
By John Cory
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Thursday 02 September 2004

It must have been a proud moment for Johnson & Johnson, watching their product passed around opening night at the GOP convention: Band-Aids with painted purple hearts and snarky comments about self-inflicted wounds. Who says conservatives don't have a sense of humor? This was funny stuff.

I wonder how funny that Band-Aid stunt was to the nearly 7,000 troops who have lost legs, and arms, and eyes, and suffered other mutilations in the Iraq War, and now wear a real Purple Heart. I'll bet they rolled around in their wheelchairs and fell off their crutches in roaring laughter. Can these GOP Band-Aids reattach limbs?

I'll bet they were laughing in Idaho, too. Especially Tom Titus, former Army Ranger and Vietnam vet with two Purple Hearts. On Monday he received another Purple Heart, for his son Brandon, killed in Iraq. A father and son, both veterans, both with Purple Hearts, except the father had to bury his son. Is there a funny Band-Aid for death?

In Florida last week, Carlos Arredondo was informed that his son Alexander had been killed in Iraq. Mr. Arredondo poured the gasoline of his sorrow on the van that delivered the news, and in the process, set himself aflame in grief. Is there a Band-Aid for that pain?

And the GOP is the party that supports our troops?

Don't expect a GOP denouncement of the Band-Aid debacle, and certainly not from George Bush. These folks are busy building platforms on the graves of American citizens and soldiers in order to appear tall and patriotic.

The GOP wages war on heroism, vilifies suffering, and exonerates smearing the valiant service of all veterans, in the name of partisan gamesmanship.

For all the talk of conservative compassion and the American way, the GOP has proved itself to be the party of Band-Aids, Bullets, and Broken Hearts.

And isn't that funny?

Bastids.

2008-07-02T15:44:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's me again. Suck it up or write something yourself.

(09-06) 16:30 PDT BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --

A suicide attacker sped up to a U.S. military convoy outside Fallujah and detonated an explosives-packed vehicle on Monday, killing seven Marines and three Iraqi soldiers, U.S. military officials said. It was the deadliest day for American forces in four months.

The force of the blast on a dusty stretch of wasteland nine miles north of Fallujah, a hotbed of Sunni insurgents, wrecked two Humvee vehicles and hurled the suicide car's engine far from the site, witnesses and military officials said.

I guess their invitation got lost in cyberspace.

And I guessed they missed the Memo from Dick Cheney- the very day before the Taliban killed these seven Americans- who bullshitted to the RNC that Team Bush had "...driven the Taliban from power."

Dulce et decorum est por Halliburton mori

One Man. One Day. 100 Signs. Freeway Blogger September 7, 2004

9-15-04

2008-07-02T15:42:00.001-07:00

Bush leads in polls in today's disinformation du jour

Sorry this won't be up to my own standards, life is interfering right now.

But I just saw this happen, and had to blog it- a little girl with her mother in line ahead of me at the store was trying to eat a tomato out of my shopping basket. Mom said, 'oh don't eat those, you don't like them'. Little girl, said, 'yes gimmee I want one." Mom- 'No you don't, that's the red stuff you always take off your McDonalds'. End of argument. (Me, to self- " McDonald's "as a synomym for food? The hell?)

This same woman was just telling the cashier what a great show Bill O'Reilly had yesterday.

Again, I'm wondering;are we all just too stupid to be trusted?

If you never tasted a vegetable except for what you got at McDonald's would you have a burning hunger for caponata, arugula, artichokes, the whole cabbage family, or would you just get hooked on being force-fed tasty fat you could eat with one hand? Preferably without getting off your ass?

If you never thought of looking at issues through the prism of history or media manupulation, would you use your free time to see what other English-language news is saying like Anti wrote here ?
Or would you just read the latest hit from the FOX News crack-pipe online like the asshole sitting next to me right now?

If you read Fast Food Nation, you already know that it's no coincidence that farmers ranchers truckers ALL have to be in bed with the same two or three Big Food conglomerates or they go out of business.

What you probably don't know, is the same thing happened during the Bush Administration with the media. Information. News.

The first rule of Mob Fascism- If Everyone Doesn't Want it, No one Gets It.

The tactics used to convince millions of people to choose factory-farmed possibly mad-cow-inducing, cheap disgusting food over the responibility of cooking your own damn dinner, are the ones being used to convince you if it's on the T.V. news, it's true. Some of them are the exact same people.

Millions of dollars are being spent on scaring you into a FOX-box like stampeding cattle herded into a slaughterhouse.

Let's all write a letter of appreciation to the editor who wanted to fire the reporter of this mainstream magazine piece because it was too negative.

Let's tell him how much we need to have all the things that aren't so pretty about the Iraq fuckaround removed from any American eyes. We can't handle it. Don't even tell us you're lying about it, 'cuz that's not pretty either.

And if our elected leaders act on our wishes and against the McHalliBush thugs, they are 'flip-floppers'. If you start to look at things a little too closely, why here comes another Poll to remind you Bush is THE LEADER! Everybody loves him! Even people who don't like him find Kerry ridiculous, so get used to Bush winning.

That's what this is about, after all.

Getting used to the idea that George will 'win' yet again, so just roll over and get punked and go back to finishing your Big Mac in your Escalade.

My nephew, "Yrsitesuxballs" always says, it's not getting fucked that makes you a punk.

It's enjoying the perks once it happens.Getting protected from the bigger bad guys who will fuck you worse is not an argument for my vote.
I'm not comfortable being punked....are YOU?
Time to go back to work.

How to make fifty grand and not sell crack

Find your nutsack, Mr. Kerry

9-21-04

2008-07-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

Hi there pards and pardettes.

Keith ,you're the koolest. Glad to be back.
As usual, there's too much to say, too much to type.

If it's the truth, it doesn't matter who says it.
If a raving pinhead tells me I'm boring, I eat it with a pound of salt, but it still tastes true.

I was beginning to sound like one of those moms who sends you clippings out of the local paper that you never read. Well, I have a life too, and you don't need me to Digest the real news for you.

Shave off twenty minutes a day from your FOX News time and find out what's really happening here-(Truthout- The Best Reporting on the Web) Warning- may be hazardous to your comfort level.

If someone is right, it doesn't matter if they're an asshole.

Enjoy. Discuss.

Put Away Your Hankies...a Message from Michael Moore
MichaleMoore.com

Monday 20 September 2004

Dear Friends,

Enough of the handwringing! Enough of the doomsaying! Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK? Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"

Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded. They are never finished -- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.

They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them -- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all -- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships. How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.

Look at us -- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"

No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.

Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is. So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac! Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.

My friends, it is time for a reality check.

1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.

2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.

3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).

4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam. There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it. Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.

So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."

Yes...Yes...Yesssss....He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...

WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?

Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?

Yours,

Michael Moore

9-22-04

2008-07-02T15:39:00.001-07:00

the long version - I guess Inbox New window
Print

Green Catfish to me
More options 8:19am (48 minutes ago)

I read some of the comments over at BTB and I guess
what I wanted to further say is a message that has
already been conveyed.

"My pops says the frustration will never go away,
you're always going to be spraypainting on some
berlinwall or other. But eventually you will have some
kind of victory, or your children will. Don't stop, he
said. Fight harder."

Fight harder if you can but at least continue to let
others know there is a fight to be fought.

Once I was involved in a campaign, deeply. The guy was
a friend of a friend and they needed skills that could
be trusted, I fit the bill. The guy was a better
candidate but he didn't win.

'Politics are rarely played fairly' was one of the
courses I was enrolled in at the school of hard
knocks. But the funny thing is that those who aren't
strangers to politics, those who eat and breathe
politics know that the game isn't played fairly. Some
like the unsportsmanship of it all. Some liken it to
war. This tends to wary the players who like to play
it straight.

We didn't win that fight but some of us went on and
won some lesser fights and there are still times today
when we get each other's back. Battle tried and field
tested, I guess.

There are times when the pot needs to be stirred. It
looks like somehow you got stuck with the wooden
spoon. Maybe some don't like your stirring technique
but try to hand them the spoon and see what happens.

But then you already know.

The important thing is to keep it stirring, some just
walk away, leave it for someone else, the heroes keep
the spoon moving at least until someone else can take
over.

Weak as water - I like that analogy. Water may be
mostly tasteless but what quenches thirst better?

Some folks underestimate the power of water.

Weak as water? Talk to the folks on the Florida
coastline or some farmer with 500 acres of just dirt
because the rain refuses to touch the earth.

Heat makes rain - rain is water - water is life. You,
and maybe others, see water, I see life. But then I'm
repeating myself. We sometimes can't see what is
growing underground.

It was great when you replied to a comment on BTB when
someone asked that a link be posted. You replied "That
someone is you." There are too many people looking
around waiting for someone else to do something. What
I admire about you is that you get to getting and
you're not afraid to tell others to do the same.

Recently, I pictured you standing in the batter's box
swinging away, sometimes you're not pleased with your
batting average and sometimes you get heckled from the
stands but at least you're taking swings at the ball
and I think you're also more than willing to step away
from the plate if there is someone else who is willing
to swing the bat but often there is no one in the on
deck circle.

I guess this is the extended version of:

The thing about water is that all life needs it to
exist.

Which still holds true.

Truly,
Tim

P.S. Thanks for letting me know you peruse my site. I
was going to increase the amount of profanity and
pornography but I'll hold off on that for now.

_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today!
http://vote.yahoo.com

9-24-04

2008-07-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
The majority of PTSD-disabled veterans interviewed in Susan Faludi's book cited 'war movies' as the single dominant factor leading them to enlist.

If you want to sell a big lie, let people be the hero in a safe, simple, good-and-evil moral landscape; a comic-book reality.

Even good, smart people can't resist this.

Even when you're the villian. Do you at least act like a strong leader?

If you oppose the war in front of the family and friends of the fallen, you are not defending them....
..you are desecrating

all

these

myths.

No weapons of mass destruction. No democracy. No connection between Al Queda and Saddam. No exit strategy. No apology. Why did we do it?

To be the hero.

And, maybe....As the documents show, prior to the U.S. invasion, foreign oil companies were nicely positioned for future involvement in Iraq, while the major U.S. oil companies, after years of U.S.-Iraqi hostilities, were largely out of the picture. Indeed, the U.S. majors would have been the big losers if U.N. sanctions against Iraq had simply been lifted. "The U.S. majors stand to lose if Saddam makes a deal with the U.N. (on lifting sanctions)," noted a report by Germany's Deutsche Bank in October 2002.

The Big Lie

Lock and load, brothers in arms.

9-24-04

2008-07-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

It bears repeating because, as tens of millions (billions, even) across the planet realize, Bush is so obviously ripe, so obviously dripping with glaring misprision, so deeply rife with flaw and bumble and moronism, and his policies are so full of gaping holes and his ethics are so full of hostile lies and his wars are so lacking in WMDs and "nukuler" plants and any sort of justification, well, you'd think any decent opponent worth his sound bite would have a veritable cakewalk stomping Dubya's little cowboy brain into powdery AWOL Texas cow-pie smithereens.

Tim? Alfred? This is for you.

Same as it ever was? Maybe. But this time, there's a decidedly malicious GOP-bred methodology at work, one that seems to be operating at a level normally reserved for dictatorships and military coups and brutal autocratic regimes.

WTF Is Up with Kerry?

Whatever you think, it's not what you think.

10-02-04

2008-07-02T15:32:00.001-07:00

Flip a coin.

Who won again?

National Free Speech Day, October 13th 2004

If you missed SkullFuck Bush, here's a party for ya. Calling on nerds.

"If this be treason...make the most of it" - Patrick Henry

2008-07-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

Give up your fear, your comfort, your 'cynicism and cool', some o'your free time, and your cozy black trenchcoat of pessisism.

What you get- a chance to change history. A part in the outcome of the most important election of my lifetime so far, and the oldest here. So there.

Who you are- everyone who is still either a)sucking each others cocks,or,2) wringing your hands, over how the media is telling you the debate went.

In an era of more unfiltered information more available than ever before in history, it's no wonder people are overwhelmed.

It's no wonder we want our visual images strictly censored- (have you listened to Howard Stern lately? his most common targets for outrage are unwaxed female pubic hair and unenhanced breasts.You go, you rebel!)

It's no wonder the brightest lights of our generation are disgusted and bored with the nasty state of politics.

Well, my fellow citizens, Rome didn't fall in a day.

Let's get over ourselves, I'll be first.

Let's add some links to ALL kinds of people, (p.s.- welcome Curt and Soviet Mastermind, my two newest protegees).

I'm watching Godzilla now (is that better than LOTR, BTB'ers?) and it makes me want to kiss each and every Japanese national who overcame the horror and fear of death raining from the sky to kick our ass in the world economy and make great monster movies.

Somebody tell our President he is no longer an Emporor or a God. Everybody bring home our Kamakazis who were denied even the dignity of an honest choice.

This rambling post is just a long way of saying, turn your anger to action,everybody.
Hold Fast and take heart (from Sinister Girls)

Okay, gotta go, Ghidrah just showed up.

1-7-04

2008-07-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

I read this story today, and got some deja vu.

"Oh yeah", I remembered. ""yrsitesuxballs' asked me to post the video clip of this
over three months ago.

Okay, maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but I had to repeat-

I read this here three months ago.
Soldiers Toast Each Other as They Toast Civilians

CBS got around to this story yesterday.

Bring the Beef not only gives good beefage- we are reporters.

Big ups to all of you who read, whether you've posted or commented here or not.

Democracy requires the moral imperative to use your intelligence.

10-10-04

2008-07-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

From my Sunday in-box.......

Dear Sierra Whisky - I've been getting a lot of that sentiment lately, and trust me, it doesn't get to my head because I know what you know now, and that's just that it's no more complicated than just Doing It. I tell you though, your post and ten word letter really did make me smile - even laugh out loud.

so far there's about five hundred of us, and by wednesday there'll be a thousand. Easy. Let me know where you'll be posting and check out the site for a word on pictures. Thanks to you and your unindicted co-conspirator... this is gonna be great.

-Scarlet p.

http://www.freewayblogger.com
----- Original Message -----
From: sierra whiskey
To: freewayblogger@freewayblogger.com
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 10:02 AM
Subject: Count me in for the 13th!

Look.

I can't begin to tell you how you inspire me.

- Sierra Whiskey

10-12-04

2008-07-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

1) It's not too late. Get some 2 x 4 squares of Corolite from a sign shop, (FastSigns, Abracabra, etc.). Ask them to make grommeted holes in each corner.
This should take you about two hours and cost under ten bucks.

2) Buy some extra-wide Sharpie markers. I have one black and one red for 'blood' effects.

3) Don't think you have to be Mear One and Billy Nose on your first try. Write something easy like "No WMDs" with a red "W" like we did tonight, or the ever-popular "Bush Lied".

4) Hook a 6" length of baling wire through each grommet. Drive around looking for a visible legnth of fencing. Or, tie the wire around the poles of an overpass bridge. The few extra inches of play will keep it from flipping up in the wind.

5) Think to yourself, "How fun that would be. I'll do it when I finish this madcool mural I'm working on. Young people are doing such interesting things in this election year. I'll just get high right now,time enough later to go to Kinko's. It doesn't have to be today, right?"

6) I'm kidding, get up, do it now before rush hour. It IS fun, and important.

Enjoy your earned right to free speech.

"“Voting once every four years is no longer sufficient,”(the Freeway Blogger) says once we are back on the freeway, driving north to see if his first two signs are still hanging (they aren´t) and so he can drop me off. “It´s not going to keep the beast at bay.

"If people could just realize they had a voice I wouldn´t have to do this anymore.”

10-14-06

2008-07-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

"KIA- 1073/WMD- 0" on the scoreboard at the Soccer Harvest Finals

"Vote Kerry, Not Scary" with a giant hanging skeleton, on the TriCounty Haunted House Sign

"Don't Cheney With My Vote " downtown in Little Manila

"War President My Pet Goat" on the Hammer/I-5 overpass

"A Vote for Bush Shames Our War Dead" in the fence outside the (closed) VA Hospital

I don't create, I just disseminate. All credit goes to the One creator.

"Bush Lied" over a real estate sign. "Bush Lied" pasted in the middle of a barrio mural. "Bush Lied" in some bushes.

Hey, I'm good at this. I used to be Johnny Marijuanaseed.

"Oh the Lord is good to me/for this I thank the Lord/for giving me the things I need/the sun the rain and the appleseed...."

overpasses and bushes and piles of recycled cardboard for the taking.

I can't wait to see the harvest.

10-27-04

2008-07-02T15:21:00.001-07:00

...Thanatos and Eros.
Are you as issue-fatiguiged as I am? Sick of politics? Driven but without joy?

Go get some game on over at the Clean Sheets Sex and Politics Contest.

From How to Fuck a President So It Means Something -

"And let us be honest: there are some kinds of easy that are not so pretty. Not that difficult, even if you are a Democrat, to imagine ravishing that man who so recently left us: he grinned us through the first plague years. Because however fake you knew his awesome confidence was, it remains ferociously contagious. You wanted a piece of that; even as you knew it might kill you. It grips you as you grapple: the sex feels clean, all-American, something the whole family could watch. You tell him not to use a condom, because his party didn't believe in that disease -- so it didn't exist. You'd do all the work in his bed while he lay in the middle, shining like a big dumb candle. Only later on would you collapse, like the market of '87.

But now: stop. Sex isn't always easy. Sex with presidents shouldn't be a walk in the Rose Garden.

The president to truly fuck is not any of these. He was the son of a president, a graduate of Harvard, a man who lost the popular vote, and grievously insulted his opponent, a genuine war hero.

Not that one.

Not even I will go that far."

Enjoy the lunar eclispe tonight, brothers-in-arms.
MyPollingSite.com

11-16-04

2008-07-02T15:18:00.001-07:00

Sorry, Rumplephoreskin , but sometimes I hate myself too.

I wish I cared more about who really killed Laci and Conor.

I would be more popular if I gave a shit about America's Hottest IdolModel or Howard's latest fight with the FCC.

I would probably be more fun to be around if I could contribute to the burning controversy over the ending of Lost.

I don't give a fuck, and I don't know about any of it.

So why do I feel embarassed to admit that I do care about what the good Christ happened to the most important election of our life?

Why do I hesitate to mention, even here, that new studies are being done?

I can't make it beautiful or poetic.

(Even when I go to a museum to get away from thinking about this stuff, I practically trip over a gift-shop copy of Zinn's "Artists In a time of War", the source of my title.)

But a funny thing just happened- while I was looking for a quote from Saul Williams that I remembered reading about a year ago about artists and duty and politics and creativity and all that shit, I found this-

"We demand a truth naturally at one with the land/
Not a plant that photosynthesizes bombs on demand/
Or a search for any weapons we let fall from our hands/
I got beats and a plan/
I'm gonna do what I can."
– Saul Williams, "Act III, Scene 2"

And I realized that the biggest innovation in music in the past twenty years has been..... sampling.

And the revolution in literature is .....cut-and-paste.

And it's okay to repeat something over an insistent beat.

And we want to know what happened to those votes.

"Professor Steven Freeman, a statistician at the University of Pennsylvania, offers a disturbing answer. Looking at the exit polls and announced results in Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania, he concludes that the odds against such an accidental discrepancy in all three states together was 250 million to one.

"As much as we can say in social science that something is impossible, it is impossible that the discrepancies between predicted and actual vote counts in the three critical battleground states of the 2004 election could have been due to chance or random error."

Read Dr. Freeman's well-reasoned, well-written argument, and make up your own mind".

The Unexplained Exit Poll Descrepancy

12-03-04

2008-07-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

"With a bigger majority, we can do even more exciting things," DeLay told a local TV station in Texas.
2cents | 11.03.04 - 11:32 am | # (from "Today in Iraq")
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was awake just in time to hear a rumor that Kerry conceded to Bush. He doesn't want to divide the nation with a recount.

I went to the internet to check out the headlines in my favorite sites.

No one. I was first.

Hey, it doesn't take an anvil falling on me to get it.

So, I will demonstrate you can write when you don't feel like writing.

You can regroup when you still feel like shit.

So, voting didn't work this time. Fuck it.

The organizations in place for getting out the vote are stronger than ever.

The nation is still divided in half.

Forget Canada.I'm not leaving California. My people were here before any Bushes staggered out of steerage. I'm still alive. We survived Andy Jackson, we'll survive this homocidal puppet.

Write to your friends around the world. Stay active in whatever you were doing before.
Don't give into the American disease of waiting-and-kibbitzing. (Yeah, yeah, the sign I didn't make was going to be so much cooler than the crappy ones you put up by the dozens.) We can't afford that anymore.

The groups who reorganized to mobilize votes are pissed. Give them your anger.

Blogger is fucked up so I can't add hyperlinks - later.

The Society of Friends are old hands at fighting the draft. The War Resister's League is re-instituting their Underground Railroad. The Jane Collective is training anonymous volunteers to give emergency first aid to self-induced or illegal abortions.

Don't go away. We need you. Bush didn't win by a landslide. Just wait until he fucks up and watch the wolves circle.

And don't wait, like I did, for the next guy to be the one to do something.

So...where's the riot?

11-04-04

2008-07-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

Oh Christ I don't know how to begin this.

I am so disgusted and pissed off at everyone right now, I don't want to write.

I voted for the soldier.

And I wanted to kick him in the nads when he conceded to Bush. Why?

And then I heard the torrents of what Sidney Blumenthal called 'the firing-squad circle of recrimination' among liberal Dems.

And when I dared to express some optimism, and to answer despairing, rhetorical questions - ('How this could happen' is because the NeoCon machine is not only ruthless, but not always pointing out the major differences between themselves and middle America )- I got called a Nazi.

When I attempted to swallow my pride and rancor and agree with fellow Dems, I was insulted and ignored and misunderstood.

So I took my ass over to some veteran's websites.

And I quit caring about the opinions of disappointed, untried, first-time volunteers.

This is one battle. Kerry and many like him, were in 'nasty and illegal wars', like this campaign, many times before. Ain't nothing new.

And Kerry's concession began to look like the first move of a proven warrior.(thanks to Yankee Doodle from Today In Iraq for this link) _

Jo from Democratic Veteran said this today -
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/nyregion/04york.html>

"I want to rant, cry, vent. Maybe I will. But first I want to talk. I want to talk about how we lost. I want to begin a dialog about how we can win.

And how do these (mostly Vietnam War-era ) veterans look at the fall of their leader and the next phase of the battle?

"Leave it to a (veteran ) to stay so cool and collective in the face of imminent disaster...an abscence of whining, excuse-making, victimhood, wild conspiracy-theories here- just what I'd expect of a guy who made night traps".

Jo goes on to say-

"The republicans successfully defined us as the party that's anti-God because we don't want a theocratic state, where a woman has no choice and prayer is best left at the door of a public school classroom, not in it. They defined us as anti-Gun because we don't want to see police officers assasinated in the streets with assault weapons loaded with armor piercing ammunition. They defined us as faggot-loving liberals because we believe that everyone has a place in America.

We have been defined as people we know we're not.

...Bring someone in. I don't have all the answers, but if we begin talking perhaps we will begin the process of catharsis and discovery we need. If you have a post to put up here, I'll post it for you, or if you want a login, we'll arrange that too. We have stood on the walls, walked dark posts, stood the midwatch. We understand patience. We know sacrifice. Let's find each other and others and begin to lead.

Study. Time. Patience. Work. Let's start there, and lead our party and country again. I'm not trying to be arrogant. I'm not trying to be the HMFIC, I'm just trying not to scream and I want to start the dialog and the work to regain our country."

He's onto something - the Project to Take Back Amerikka

Read it all, especially the comments, and the post that follows.

Just as I suspected, pessimissm is for pussies

11-08-04

2008-07-02T15:12:00.001-07:00

...And I believe in Number Nine-

Ten Reasons Not to Move to Canada (from Guerilla News Network .

"Ready to say screw this country and buy a one-way ticket north? Here are some reasons to stay in the belly of the beast."

After reading the mood over at the typical 'party people' type blogs, I felt like a turd in a bunchbowl pointing out the obvious old cliche; politics make strange bedfellows.

Sometimes you have to hold your nose before going brazo a brazo with the only comrades you've got.

And now for the A/V portion of the post.

Illustrating my point- a person can be a tool and still be right Jesse Ventura's OpTruth Radio Spot

The Terrorist Haven't Won Yet - to the shitbirds who helped foul the election, I may not have been watching, but God was - Original VOTERGATE 30-minute video .

Eminem 'dirties up' WHite America to keep the kids riled up and off their butts even though we lost.

To paraphrase FreewayBlogger, "Get some anger out, then go have some fun and take a rest. We'll meet back here and finish up".

11-22-04

2008-07-02T15:08:00.001-07:00

I'm on a strict no-news regimen for one week, doctor's orders.

Starting today.
Before that, I've been a busy little comment-gnome on some dope new blogs I found.
Go forth and knock yourselves out. Tell 'em Radiohumper sent you.

This Hobbit Blogger has a knack for wrapping up newly uncovered Republican financial chicanery in one or two sentences, ending with a call for a specific action.

Best Smart-Ass Name of the Year Award/Most Political Usage of Monty Python Iconography - Fried Green al-Quedas

"A state-of-the-art rehabilitation center opening next year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center seeks to return more amputee soldiers to a place once thought impossible: the battlefield". The true story is even grislier with the title and photo - "Return of the Black Knight".

'Tis but a scratch.

When free speech is the equivalent of taking a soft-shit- (from Struggle in a Bungalow Kitchen )

"I had a brief email exchange with another blogger regarding Pearl S. Buck’s assertion that freedom of speech allows one to postpone action. I wondered if blogging was just a “safety valve” that gives people (myself included) the feeling they are doing something useful, while in fact they are shirking the responsibility of more selfless forms of action."

If this administration does indeed topple before they have a chance to draft us all, it will come about by just this type of combined individual, tenacious, kitchen-table activism.- Rayne Today tells her daughter the facts of life about American war crimes-

"You need to know this, since everything else you hear and see in the news on television and the newspaper, from your friends, might only tell you there was some fighting in Fallujah. This is what it looks like in the end.

"When I was a kid, every night there was a body count on the evening news. They would tell us how many had died, how many had been injured, how many of the enemy had been killed. You might be lucky to hear that any of our troops have been killed, let alone that Iraqis or others had been killed. Never mind hearing the number injured. You simply don't hear this. Things have changed so that you don't hear or see the truth, unless you really go and look for it."

This post makes an excellent response to that assy "Close the Blinds" Glurge clogging up in-boxes.

Would you trust a 'rock' critic named Almond? Yeah, me neither. Guerilla News Network reports Almond White of the New York Press mocked the fact that Eminem's MOSH had no effect among young people other than causing a run on black hoodies in Foot Lockers.
The video's director responds-

"The original version of the video ends with Eminem’s black hoodie mob casting their vote in an act of defiance against a corrupt and illegitimate regime. But voting was only part of the video’s message. It was a larger call to arms for a generation alienated by a system that only sees young people as consumers, criminals or cannon fodder.

In this alternative ending for the video, we remind all those who were inspired by the first version to not give up the fight. In our corporation-controlled duopoly, sometimes you have to take other measures to have your voice heard. So if you are still searching for answers, know that our opinions still matter. Our hope is that it will show our battered teammates and the rest of the world that we are not here to say sorry but instead, the fight continues and we will be heard… "

Eminem's song is even more incredible with the alternate ending. I hate a phony Hollywood resolution myself.

Okay, TRUE, hope this was what you asked for. It's a crappy book report.

The Democratic Order: Such Things In Twenty Years I Understood- by Alice Walker

My father
(back blistered)
beat me
because I
could not
stop crying.
He'd had
enough 'fuss'
he said
for one damn
voting day.

11-29-04

2008-07-02T15:07:00.001-07:00

" Americans are numb to everyone's pain but our own"

TRUE is right. So is Sterling.

So everybody sit and watch and wait to see who gets dropped.

I missed the fight, what happened.

Because that's what we do, right? We watch other people have our vicarious experiences for us. We watch bachelors and apprentices and idols and icons.
No- we let other people ( i.e., television writers and news anchors) do our watching for us, and watch what pleases our eyes.

We don't like to see things that disturb us. No normal person wants to go out of their way to find disturbing truths.

That's why I can't do it for you like I used to.

Let me break it down for you-

Falluja is nothing short of mass murder.

It is being done in your name.

Try burying that under Thanksgiving Weekend Sales at Mall-Rat.Ignore that stench when you try to enjoy a new porn download.

We can't let other people do our watching for us anymore.

And, I think TRUE was right, but I agree more with Sterling.

It is okay to be happy. No, it is fundamental.

Happiness, like democracy, is dependent on consciousness.

Wake up muggles.

Consciousness is a duty. Once you experience it, it is a habit.

We can't let ourselves be ignorant. Not in the age of the internet.

You don't need me to tell you this.

But you can shoot the messenger. Only it's not going to be just me anymore.

It's your turn.

Ignore the uncensored news, and you are confirming that this....handsome, white, young, iconic

and not this

is the 'face of Fallujah' that deserves to be seen.

2008-07-02T15:06:00.001-07:00

(TRUE, this is a kind of 'p.s.' to what I wrote you last night.)

Somewhere in the bowels of the BTB archives is TRUE, or maybe Sterling's instructions on how to get ready to Bring the Beef.

Somewhere in there, prominently, was the suggestion to clean up your act.

At the time I was wondering why/how such expressions of free will as consensual sex and responsible drug use could get in the way of participatory democracy.

Then I started reading more blogs. Just to see how far out of the mainstream experience I really am.

What I saw was, everybody's a rebel, at least on their own web pages.

(Note- no one on my link-list, so relax.)

Girls squeal about being 'sluts' who love kinky sex. Guys brag about taking down anyone who gives them shit. Everyone is a rebel, and a loner, while counting the comments and fretting over unique hits.

This was news to me.
One of the advantages to growing up during a sexual revolution is internalizing its values. Thus, my generation more or less accepted gay love, female equality, pot use, and porno for adults.

Any lifestyle was valid, if- and this is big if- you are willing to take the consequences. You no longer had the luxury of controlling what people think in exchange for living in rhythm with your conscience.

The folks who did this were accepted by us.
Accepted. That's the difference.

The post-Reagan era generations want attention, applause for thier differences. If you don't see me as a loner, I'll find somebody else who does. Eccentricity is passed off as originality, and lack of impulse control for spontaenity.And victimization is heroism. Bleh.

There is still not enough true rebellion going on out there.

Here's my thought for the day- What could be more revolutionary than making conscious decisions all day long, and accepting any consequences?

Here's where my new 'do a little something' philosophy comes in.

Eat fresh, home-cooked food. That puts you in an intelligent minority. Question what you read and see on television. Spend your money at businesses that care about their workers, or at least thier customers. Eat only when you're hungry. Stop and think- never be afraid to sit still and think.

The kinkiest sex I ever heard of was with a queen who refused to give his last Valium to a kid who was tripping hard at a Strangler's concert.
"Sorry, these are only to enhance lucidity", and he put it in his own mouth.
Later, when the kid followed him out to his car, they were making out in front of us, when suddenly the queen broke loose and said, "Wow, this is really boring, isn't it?"
Then we all had a laugh together that was probably better than sex.
What could be more rebellious than that?

When you are clean, the light shines through you diffently. It is worth it.

If you do use drugs, don't let them use you.

from "What are you, on drugs?"
"The chances are very good right now that you are on a drug.
Maybe it's adjusting your hormone levels or controlling your urge to weep every minute or relaxing the blood vessels in your penis or cranking the serotonin to your brain or pumping carefully measured slugs of alprazolam or fluoxetine or sertraline or atorvastatin or esomeprazole or buspirone or venlafaxine or any number of substances with Latin-rooted jawbreaker names through your flesh in a bizarre dance of miraculous vaguely disturbing death-defying scientific wonder."

"Who needs nature and sex and excercise?"

Cuz, you know, I only want to enhance all y'all's lucidity.

12-13-04

2008-07-02T15:04:00.001-07:00

I don't usually post email forwards, but this one is timely, and says it better than I could.

HUN issued a call to 'give it away' on her blog; Sterling, TRUE, and I have been cogitating over how to connect with other Americans, no matter how fucked in the head they appear; and the Christmas season is here, with its demands and customs.
A refinance deal I was attempting went sour (after I put up all my savings up front for costs) so I can finally have the Buy Nothing Christmas I've always wanted.

I used to volunteer at a battered women's shelter, and I can tell you they need volunteers, not just to do the work, but to give women from all backgrounds a glimpse of different ways of relating. Keep this in mind when you go, would you?

(from the Micheal Moore newsletter)

12/13/04

Dear Friends,

It is no surprise that the Republicans are sore winners. They have spent the better part of the past month beating their chests, threatening to send to Siberia any Republican who doesn’t toe the line (poor Arlen Specter), and promising everything short of martial law if the Democrats don’t do what they are told.

What’s worse is to watch the pathetic sight of the DLC (the conservative, pro-corporate group of Democrats) apologizing for being Democrats and promising to “purge” the party of the likes of, well, all of US! Their comments are so hilarious and really not even worth recognizing but the media is paying so much attention to them, I thought it might be worth doing a little reality check.

The most people the DLC is able to get out to an event of theirs is about 200 at their annual dinner (where you have to pay thousands of dollars to get in).

Contrast this with the following:

* Total Members of Move On: More than 2,000,000
* Total Attendance at Vote for Change Concerts: An estimated 280,000
* Total Union Members in U.S.: Around 16,000,000
* Total Number of People Who Have Seen “Fahrenheit 9/11”: Over 50 million
* Total Number of You Reading This: Perhaps 10 million or more

The days of trying to move the Democratic Party to the right are over. We lost a very close election (a one-state difference) by running the #1 liberal in the Senate. Not bad. The country is shifting in our direction, not to the right. But the country was attacked and people were scared. They were manipulated with fear. And America has never thrown a sitting president out during wartime. That’s the facts. Oh, and our candidate could have run a better campaign (but we’ll have that discussion another day).

In the meantime, while we reflect on what went wrong, I would like to pass on to you an essay that a friend who works with abuse victims sent to me. It was written by a woman who has spent years working as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse and she sees many parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to last month’s election. Her name is Mel Giles and here is what she had to say…

Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the ‘new’ language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, "Why did they beat me?"

And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.

They will tell you: Every single day.

The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.

As victims we can't stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can't seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.

Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior. Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance. Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won't; we will never be worthy).

And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See the Democrats cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.

How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.

First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don't do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don't do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less if you don't resist and fight back.

Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 57 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you've learned, and that you aren't going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 57 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it's better than the abuse.

We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for, our core, must not be altered. We are 57 million strong. We are building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying, because we are trying to break free and we don't know how.

Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: Stop responding to the abuser.

Don't let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he'll win, not because he's right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders, reform the election system to make it fail-proof, stick to our message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless, cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, "loose,” irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.

Even if you do everything right, they'll hit you anyway. Look at the poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted environment and a shoddy education.

And they don't even know they are being hit.

How true. And that is our challenge over the next couple of years; to hold out our hand to those being hit the hardest and help them leave behind a party that only seeks to keep beating them, their children, and the kid next door who’s on his way to Iraq.

Yours,

Michael Moore

12-17-04

2008-07-02T15:03:00.001-07:00

...and Gandhi heard it the same way.

Hello, I'm still resting my brain, but I wanted to clarify what I was trying to say with this post about Battered Shame and learned helplessness.

Someday, I imagine, future historians will look back at the American reflex of responding to violence with fear-fueled annhilation the way we now laugh at Redcoats fighting the Continental Army in neat, red rows.

And I had a whoooooole lot to say about our culture of pathological worship of 'winners' and demonizing of life's percieved 'losers'. But that's for another time.

Losers are only losers if they accept the hand they're dealt.

Jesus backs me.

""Turn the other cheek" suggests the passive, Christian doormat quality that has made so many Christians cowardly and complicit in the face of injustice...Rather than fostering structural change, such attitudes encourage collaboration with the oppressor.
Jesus never behaved in such ways. Whatever the source of the misunderstanding, it is neither Jesus nor his teaching, which, when given a fair hearing in its original social context, is arguably one of the most revolutionary political statements ever uttered.

"...Why then does Jesus counsel these already humiliated people to turn the other cheek? Because this action robs the oppressor of power to humiliate them. The person who turns the other cheek is saying, in effect, "Try again. Your first blow failed to achieve its intended effect. I deny you the power to humiliate me. I am a human being just like you. Your status (gender, race, age, wealth) does not alter that. You cannot demean me." Such a response would create enormous difficulties for the striker. Purely logistically, how can he now hit the other cheek? He cannot backhand it with his right hand. If he hits with a fist, he makes himself an equal, acknowledging the other as a peer. But the whole point of the back of the hand is to reinforce the caste system and its institutionalized inequality.Sound familiar?

"Get your coat, and don't say goodnight to anybody on our way out".

Keeps you humble, self-absorbed - and playing the same game as your batterer.

I was assaulted by someone once had stuffed dirt in the mouths and vaginas of his dead victims. He told the judge he wanted to kill me because I was looking him in the eye while he kicked and punched me. If I had run, I may not have got away, and the fact that I messed with his game was worth the broken ribs, and made the next ten years a lot easier.

"Even if nonviolent action does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor, it does affect those committed to it. As Martin Luther King, Jr. attested, it gives them new self-respect and calls on strength and courage they did not know they had".
In the spirit of the season, I recommend taking a look at the whole article.

Jesus' Third Way

* Seize the moral initiative.

* Find a creative alternative to violence.

* Assert your own humanity and dignity as a person.

* Meet force with ridicule or humor.

* Break the cycle of humiliation.

* Refuse to submit or to accept the inferior position.

* Expose the injustice of the system.

* Take control of the power dynamic.

* Shame the oppressor into repentance.

* Stand your ground.

* Force the Powers into decisions for which they are not prepared.

* Recognize your own power.

* Be willing to suffer rather than retaliate.

Now, flame away, my kickass sistahs. ; )

12-20-04

2008-07-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Second-most-famous Modesto native,current sell-out shitsack and skeleton fetishist Harrison Ford plans to burlesque his former credibility in the movie adaptation of the soul-curdling "No True Glory; the Battle for Fallujah".

All I can hope is that the present generation of American service personnel have the taste and wit of the Vietnam-Era grunts who turned their M-16s onto the screen during a premiere of John Wayne's "Battle of the Green Berets".

Sigh.

Onto better things, this is really funny-

A Not So Wonderful Life
By Maureen Dowd
The New York Times
Sunday 19 December 2004

Exterior bridge over Potomac River - Night

Close Shot - Rummy is standing by the railing, staring morosely into the water. The snow is falling hard. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he wheels around and wrestles an old man with wings into a headlock.

Old Man: Ouch! Tut, tut. When will you learn that force doesn't solve everything?

Rummy: Who the dickens are you?

Old Man: Clarence, Angel First Class. I've been sent down to help you.

Rummy, squinting: You're off your nut, you old fruitcake. You can't help me. I was a matinee idol in this town, a studmuffin. Now everyone's turned on me - Trent Lott, Chuck Hagel and that dadburn McCain.

Clarence: No more self-pity, son. I'm going to show you what the world would have been like if you'd never been born.

Clarence, who can fly now, takes Rummy's hand and they soar over the icy Potomac to the Pentagon. Beneath the glass on the desk of the defense secretary is a list of members of Congress and their phone numbers.

Rummy: Who put that there?

Clarence: Sam Nunn. He's the defense secretary. Sam consults with Congress. Never acts arrogant or misleads them. He didn't banish the generals who challenged him - he promoted 'em. And, of course, he caught Osama back in '01. He threw 100,000 troops into Afghanistan on 9/11 and sealed the borders. Our Special Forces trapped the evildoer and his top lieutenants at Tora Bora. You weren't at that cabinet meeting the day after 9/11, so nobody suggested going after Saddam. No American troops died or were maimed in Iraq. No American soldiers tortured Iraqis in Abu Ghraib. No Iraqi explosives fell into the hands of terrorists. There's no office of disinformation to twist perception abroad. We're not on the cusp of an Iraq run by Muslim clerics tied to Iran. Here's Sam. He's with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

General Shineski: We got some good news today on the National Guard, sir. Recruiting is up 40 percent. With the money we saved killing that useless missile defense system, we up-armored all our Humvees.

Rummy, fists and jaw clenched: Grrrrrrr...I want to see Wolfie!

Clarence: Sam never hired any of those wacko neocons. Wolfowitz is a woolly headed professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a consultant to Ariel Sharon. Richard Perle was never in charge of the Defense Policy Board, so he was unable to enrich himself through government connections, or help Ahmad Chalabi con the administration. Perle stayed an honest man, running a chain of soufflé shops. His soufflés were so fluffy he became known as the Prince of Lightness. Doug Feith never worked here, either, so he never set up the Office of Special Plans to spin tall tales about W.M.D. and Qaeda ties to Saddam. And he never bungled the occupation because there was no occupation. Without you to swoon over in a book, neocon doyenne Midge Decter became a fallen woman, like Violet.

Rummy, dyspeptic: Holy mackerel! Take me to Dick!

Clarence: Dick and Lynne run a bait, tackle and baton-twirling shop in Casper, Wyo. You didn't exist, so you never gave him those jobs in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and he never ran for Congress or worked for Bush 41 or anointed himself 43's vice president. W. chose Chuck Hagel as his running mate. So without you and Dick there to dominate him, he was guided by his dad and Brent Scowcroft, who kept Condi in line. Colin Powell was never cut off at the knees and the U.N. and allies were never bullied. There was never any crazy fever about Iraq or unilateralism or "Old Europe." Here's Colin now, heading for the Oval Office.

Powell: Merry Christmas, Mr. President. With the help of our allies around the world, we have won the war on terror. And Saddam has been overthrown. Once Hans Blix exposed the fact that Saddam had no weapons, the tyrant was a goner. No Arab dictator can afford to be humiliated by a Swedish disarmament lawyer.

Rummy: Goodness gracious, I've heard enough now. I'm going home. Unless you're going to tell me my wife is an old maid, because I wasn't around to marry her.

Clarence: Oh, no. Joyce lives across the street from your old house on Kalorama Road. She's happily married to the French ambassador.

"Auld Lang Syne" swells as we Fade Out.

12-23-04

2008-07-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Not all of my email is hateful.

This just came into my work email addy today, forwarded from a Christian woman whose son died mysteriously enroute from Iraq to Rammstein.
She sent it to my marksmanship coach, who forwarded it to my war-poetry-loving husband, who passed it to me.

I don't hate Chrisitians, I just prefer the bible as a source of poetry, to a blueprint for twenty-first-century life.

Anyway, whatevs,enjoy. This is some shit.

From: XXXXXXX(xxxxx)
To: QQQQQQQ(qqqqq)
Cc: Henderson, Cassandra M. (CHAYES)

Subject: A Poem
Sent: 12/22/04 11:18 PM
Importance: Normal
I don't know, it works for me.....

TO A TERRORIST
>
> Stephen Dunn
>
>
> For the historical ache, the ache passed down
> which finds its circumstance and becomes
> the present ache, I offer this poem
>
> without hope, knowing there's nothing,
> not even revenge, which alleviates
> a life like yours. I offer it as one
>
> might offer his father's ashes
> to the wind, a gesture
> when there's nothing else to do.
>
> Still, I must say to you:
> I hate your good reasons.
> I hate the hatefullness that makes you fall
>
> in love with death, your own included.
> Perhaps you're hating me now,
> I who own my own house
>
> and live in a country so muscular,
> so smug, it thinks its terror is meant
> only to mean well, and to protect.
>
> Christ turned his singular cheek,
> one man's holiness another's absurdity.
> Like you, the rest of us obey the sting,
>
> the surge. I'm just speaking out loud
> to cancel my silence. Consider it an old impulse,
> doomed to become mere words.
>
> The first poet probably spoke to thunder
> and, for a while, believed
> thunder had an ear and a choice.

12-29-04

2008-07-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

More proof that President Bush- over there;rest of the world- here:

Emporor A.W.O.L. doesn't think it necessary to cut short his vacation, flips the U.N. a quarter-

Kofi Annan cut short hisholidays

Pakistan holds its nose and gives unprecedented humanitarian, monetary aid to sworn enemy India

The mainstream press, S.F. Gate, endorses,disseminates the same info as the Tsuanmihelpblog

Just three days of the war in Iraq would match the amount the U.S. had pledged in relief.

President Death-takes-a-holiday is in his own private Waterloo about Iraq too-
"We have completely lost our way with this fiasco. The president seems almost perversely out of touch. "The idea of democracy taking hold in what was a place of tyranny and hatred and destruction is such a hopeful moment in the history of the world," he said last week....."

...One of the things that President George W. Bush might consider while on his current vacation is whether there are any limits to the price our troops should be prepared to pay for his misadventure in Iraq, or whether the suffering and dying will simply go on indefinitely."
( How the Iraq Tragedy is Hitting Home from the New York Times online)

So, yeah, I have a point.

Does this sound like a guy you can count on to figure out the humanitarian relief situation during a made-for-PAX-type pseudo-bliblical disaster like the South Asian Tsunami?

No. No, we'll have to do this one ourselves. We, the people who give a shit.

And because I'm morbid, I like this-

"We severely need bodybag in large quantities. As a country with
predominantly muslim adherents, the religious law dictates that the
deceased be bathed, cleansed, clothed, prayed and then buried within
24 hours time after the time of death. Normally the deceased is
wrapped in long white burial cloth.

This will prove as a daunting task in the days ahead. Last 24 hours
I've received so many stories abound from Indonesian companies having
branch offices in the region, they need to bury their employees, yet
to enter their office compound volunteers have to walk through sea of
corpses. Even finding volunteers to carry the dead and prepare the
burial is already an arduous task.

Given the circumstances, to wrap the deceased in the ritual burial
cloth is both difficult and impractical. Problem is Indonesia do not
produce body bags, and we don't even normally use body bags for
non-natural deaths (e.g. accident, homicide etc) . Throughout Jakarta
for instance, it is difficult to find enough bodybag to fly to
Sumatra. So many relief workers from many organisation are now faced
with the fact that we have too much corpse, too little time, and very
few bodybags.

Imagine the backlog of burials in the following days or weeks. Picture
how a simple item like bodybag will help contain possible epidemic due
to the decomposition of corpses.

Similar situation will happen not only in Indonesia,but it will also
happen for other nations that are hit the worst - Sri Lanka, India,
Thailand come into miy mind.

Any international help to provide body bags to help bury the dead will
be highly appreciated - along with other help for the living such as
medication, ready-to-eat food, clothing, medication, etc.

Please info this to your country relief effort for South Asia disaster.

Thank you, God bless." From the Tsunamihelpneededblog (EDIT)
Maybe someone who's good at that sort of thing can ask these people to send a donation- they appear to have a monopoly.
BodyBags Direct, Inc.I'll do what I can too. Thanks.

12-31-04

2008-07-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

On behalf of YrSiteSuxBalls, who is unable to post due to legal captivity,

in the words of Alice Walker,

Thank you all for showing up.

I don't want to make TRUE throw up again , so I'll keep it brief;

wanting to be better,
to know more,
to do good,

is all something.

We Are What We Do

Thanks to Spirit of One for the link.

From Urban Fox -
And ye, who have met with Adversity's blast,
And been bow'd to the earth by its fury;
To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass'd
Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury -
Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime,
The regrets of remembrance to cozen,
And having obtained a New Trial of Time,
Shout in hopes of a kindlier dozen.
-Thomas Hood

1-5-05

2008-07-02T14:57:00.001-07:00

from Oakland Free State...Cali RULES!!!!!!!!!

Dear Sierra,

No American citizen should wake up the morning after the election and worry their vote wasn't counted. No citizen should be denied at the polls if they are eligible to vote. And, as the greatest, wealthiest nation on earth, our citizens should never be forced to vote on old, unaccountable and non transparent voting machines from companies controlled by partisan activists.

Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors.

Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.

But, that does not mean we should abandon our commitment to addressing those problems that happened in Ohio. We must act today to make sure they never happen again.

I urge you to join me in using this occasion to highlight our demand that Congress commit itself this year to reforming the electoral system. A Presidential election is a national federal election but we have different standards in different states for casting and counting votes. We need a national federal standard to solve the problems that occurred in the 2004 election. I will propose legislation to help achieve this.

Florida 2000 was a wake up call. But the Republicans who control Congress ignored it. Will they now ignore what happened in 2004?

There are nearly 3,000,000 of you receiving this email. We accomplished so much together during the campaign. Now let's use our power to make sure that at least one good thing comes from the voting rights problems of the 2004 election. If we want to force real action on election reform, we've got to demand that congressional leaders hold full hearings. Make sure they hear from you and help hold them accountable.

Speaker Dennis Hastert: 1-202-225-0600
Leader Bill Frist: 1-202-224-3135

And please report that you've made your call right here:

wait, where you going?

1-5-05

2008-07-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

1-19-05

2008-07-02T14:56:00.001-07:00

Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail
Welcome, harshmellow
[Sign Out, My Account]
Mail Home - Mail Tutorials - Help

Mail | Addresses | Calendar | Notepad Mail Upgrades - Mail Options Check MailCompose Search MailSearch the Web

This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ]

From: "Freewayblogger" Add to Address Book
To: Undisclosed-Recipient@,
Subject: Freewayblog the Inaugural!
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 08:56:38 -0800

Hello Freewaybloggers,

Please join us on the freeways on January 20th to celebrate four more years of shock and awe.

http://www.freewayblogger.com/j20.htm

Best picture wins a hundred bucks.

Peace, Scarlet P.

If you wish to be taken off this list, please reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject.

DeleteReplyForwardSpamMove...
Previous | Next | Back to Messages Save Message Text
Check MailCompose Search MailSearch the Web

Also from this website-"This will be an historic date. With the swearing-in of George W. Bush for a second term as President of the United States, the world will bear solemn witness to what may well be the Biggest Mistake since the Dawn of Time. Future generations, provided there are any, will one day look to us and ask "What did you do during the inauguration?" Hopefully, you'll be able to look back and say:
"I did everything I could: I was a Freewayblogger."

I know, it's too late to make a good sign. Make a crappy one

Do some graf art .

Write on money- am I the only one who remembers Angelina and TRUE's graf-'d dolla bills last summer?

Write on the sugar packets on the coffee shop table.

Write on a t-shirt. Take a picture and put it on buzznet.

Everyone should get to be a Sign Guy at least once.

Sign Guys rule .

Dr. King says so.

1-20-05

2008-07-02T14:55:00.001-07:00

Good morning. Today is Inauguration Day.

NOT ONE DAMN DIME DAY

COUNTER-INAUGURATION DAY ACTIONS

in San Francisco
Honolulu ,
New Jersey
and everywhere in between.

TURN YOUR BACK ON BUSH has events lined up for L.A., wichita and several European cities.

Go do whatever you want.

I am not about telling people what they should do.
That isn't why you came here, is it? So someone would tell you what you should feel like doing?

Neh.Not me. Not today.

Last night one of my colleagues made a rookie mistake that almost cost hundreds of lives.

That same night, ironically, my boss had bought Chinese food for our crew for working so hard.

I got a cookie with the fortune, "Wherever thou art,be thou there."

I've been keeping a journal of how I spend my time since 2005 started. It's some shit.

Worse than reading your girlfriend's diary. Worse than trying on lingerie under a naked 75-watt bulb.

So I decided to get more out of my life by actually, you know, enjoying my days.
Putting my mind into whatever I'm doing, so I'm not looking at the curtain over my lover's shoulder, for instance, or cussing out the flights who are interrupting my blog-surfing.

What, you think that's easy? Just doing what you're doing without trippin' on the next thing?

It's tough. Slooooooow.
Worse than watching mold form. Worse than going fishing with your grandfather.

Until ,you know,it isn't. A space snaps open like a parachute, and you are in it, in a zone. Like playing with a baby.

The world quits getting on your nerves. And oh yes, it's harder to fuck up ATC messages when you're whole mind is on it.
One of the ways I've decided to 'be there'is at this place-
WE ARE WHAT WE DO

Well, more on that later.

So go wherever you want, but Be There.

ANI DIFRANCO LYRICS

"Paradigm"

I was born to two immigrants
Who knew why they were here
They were happy to pay taxes
For the schools and roads
Happy to be here
They took it seriously
The second job of citizenry
My mother went campaigning door to door
And holding to her hand was me

I was just a girl in a room full of women
Licking stamps and laughing
I remember the feeling of community brewing
Of democracy happening

But I suppose like anybody
I had to teach myself to see
All that stuff that got lost
On its way to church
All that stuff that got lost
On its way to school
All that stuff that got lost
On its way to the house of my family
All that stuff that was not lost on me

Teach myself to see each of us
Through the lens of forgiveness
Like we're stuck with each other (god forbid!)
Teach myself to smile and stop and talk
To a whole other color kid
Teach myself to be new in an instant
Like the truth is accessible at any time
Teach myself it's never really one or the other
There's a paradox in every paradigm

I was just a girl in a room full of women
Licking stamps and laughing
I remember the feeling of community brewing
Of democracy happening

Jib Jab Second Term

1-29-05

2008-07-02T14:53:00.001-07:00

Hun and I have been ridin' the same synchronicity train lately.

I just went over to Democratic Veteran to promote the proposed Armor operation here from a pro-troop/anti-Bush angle.

Look what I found:

via Bartcop. Help a soldier . Today. Here's a website started to help get supplies to our troops. Never mind the budget-busting borrowing that Preznit Corporate Whore is proposing to send more money to the coffers of CheneyBurton, here's a chance to send money where it's going to do some good.
From Bartcop:

Are you aware they need food? On anysoldier.com there are requests for some food.
There is a captain currently requesting Listerine as many are sick and they want to avoid
others getting sick and rubber gloves to help stop spreading the sore throat and sickness.

They said the food in mess is so riddled with bacteria they are trying to avoid it (thank you very much Halliburton).
Women soldiers have no Tampax or similar products for their periods. The water problem is a serious problem.
And this waste of human flesh president dances the night away wasting money that could help our troops.
I am so angry I am shaking.

They are asking that we send them microwavable items as they are trying to avoid mess food since it's contaminated.
Also if they are in the field and miss meals it's too bad.
They also need transformers as the power is 220 and they have 110 voltage items.
If you go to anysoldier.com you will see requests. It is so unbelievable. Someone has to do something.

We are sending top ramen as this was requested and Tampax to the women.
We also sent some Easy Mac. We aren't well off but send what we can when we can.
Dammit this president is so evil. So GD evil!!!!

Join me in dropping in a buck or ten, and shame your SUV-driving, magnetic-ribbon wearing neighbors and co-workers into doing the same. Especially if they have a "W04" sticker on their car.

Looks like it may not be necessary to reinvent the wheel after all.

I know a lot of angry veterans who would like this site better than one endorsed by Rush.
Still working on the pimp-the-weirdo-blogger angle too, though.

2-2-05

2008-07-02T14:51:00.001-07:00

Is everyone excited about what's been happening here?

Who else is excited and broke?

I just emailed one of my friends who was in the Guard (10/2003-06/2004:Tikrit and Afghanistan), and asked her to put a link to us on her business web page.

She checked out the archives (don't you love new readers who read all the archives? )
and then gave me some advice.

"I figure you have spent about three hours a day online, average, reading and commenting on blogs.

Why don't you donate that time to writing letters to soldiers instead of writing about them, if you're so tired of doing that?"

So I'm going to.

Reservist Friend isn't the only one who has told me how precious mail is to a service person away from home.

It's one of the best things we can give.

So right now, Lt. Mike Hotel , at my request, is coming up with some highly subjective suggestions on how to write a 'support and encouragement' letter.

And I am getting my head out of the comments glue-bag for awhile.

Q- Can I just send letters? How do I and what should I say?

A- There is not one thing on this site, or anywhere, that requires you to send stuff. Letters are THE MOST requested thing by these soldiers. So, all you need do is send a normal letter in a normal envelope with a normal stamp.

You don't need money to give.

2-04-05

2008-07-02T14:50:00.001-07:00

There's some old saying not to be discouraged if a cause takes off like a caravan pulled by cats.

I'm not.
Cats are nice.

Can you tell I'm really busy and distracted tonight?

I thought I was going to be working the Domestic air traffic, you know, ANTI"S CA-to-NY flight.

Instead I'm on the West Coast Military circuit.

Kind of hard to get mad at flights for distracting me when they're on way to tsunami relief missions, or, even more likely, combat training enroute to the Middle East.

I wrote to Green Catfish that I was commiting the sin of envy today, reading other blogs.

I envy people who feel okay writing about poo and masturbation and drinking and buttsecks.

I mean, I really envy that. I wish I didn't have to talk to these guys on their way to chaos or oblivion.

I believe we're all doing what we can.

Thanks to Big Tanky and Hun and Green Catfish for being the kitties behind this thing. Today was a trip, wasn't it?

Topic-

I got us our first host for our new button-logo.

Robin Lee is a co-worker of mine. She is a Navy veteran, a small business owner, a webmistress, a GLB activist, and the partner of someone whose brother was one of the first combat deaths after Bush announced "Mission Accomplished".

I have a feeling her politics are different from mine.

But I respect her enough to call what we're doing, "Support a soldier" rather than "Skullfuck Bush".

It's a beginning.

Let the cats out, and let them play in each other's yards.

GO visit her website....she knows Laila Ali, yo!

Girl Jocks Locker Room

3-12-05

2008-07-02T14:49:00.001-07:00

(reposted cuz I fuckin' feel like it.)
It's all my mother's fault.

She named me after a French Holocaust survivor and child psychologist who had been one of Joseph Mengele's Twin experiments .

Dr. "X" had refused Mengele's direct order to kill her twin,

even with a syringe full of phenol aimed at her own heart.

She was only 19 at the time. Mom's age.

She survived and was living in London when Mom read about it.

An interview in "Life"; her life was the basis for a character in QBVII.

No one knows what happened to the twin.

That must be why I'm always

feeling like a missing twin.

Like I survived, but at what cost?

Like I always know when my sister or brother is dying,

over and over,

and I feel, not just the terror and regret of Moses' big Jewish sister,

and the sense of pre destined duty of Pharoah's daughter,

but also, the avenging shame of Ishmael.

BRING THE BEEF readers, are you still out there?

Who are you?

Write for us.

Tell us what kind of American you are.

Tell us why you care.

3-06-05

2008-07-02T14:48:00.001-07:00

'Something happened to Jeff'

there is always going to be war - just because cooler heads don't always prevail

so there will always be a need for troops

either volunteer or otherwise

maybe the volunteers didn't know the risks, maybe they did

but

"you definitely come back different" - Lance Corporal Robert Hoyt

the first step is to get them back

Soldiers Angels

Any Soldier

"Don't you know your brother's a murderer?" Jeff asked of his sister

his sister didn't know what to say but what she did say was "You're my brother"

brother, father, sister, mother

mortal

human

beings

believe in spring

3-08-05

2008-07-02T14:47:00.001-07:00

"These days, yellow-ribbon originator Penny Laingen has three sons in the Navy. When her husband, Bruce, brought her a yellow-ribbon magnet last week, she hesitated to put it on her car. As a Kerry supporter, she feels the magnets have come to symbolize unquestioning support for the war.

Ms. PENNY LAINGEN (Originator of Yellow Ribbon Symbol): And I can see where--that the yellow ribbon, it might signify to some people that we shouldn't change horses in midstream. You don't dare speak out against it. And I think that is really a mistake, because, to me, there is nothing more American than dissent".

Americans are good at participating vicariously in a 'cause' by buying crap.

For those of us who don't plan to scrape off our "Re-Defeat Bush in 2004" bumperstickers, here's an idea that is quick, dirty, and best of all, symbolized by something to buy-

Troop Ribbons

Endorsed by the originator of the Yellow Ribbon iconography herself.

A sizable portion of proceeds go towards military AND peace organizations.

The goal is to support and mobilize anti-war troops and their families.

I'm older than you people. My life is too short to be spent convincing people that they're fucked in the head.

Past experience has proven to me that real peace isn't built by continually drawing attention to the differences between yourself and the other guy. Even if the other guy's a prick.

Dis-armament.

Let people see your reasonableness. Your humanity. Your value.

Respect is disarming. History and experience forces me to admit that mutual respect is the foundation to the only peace that lasts.

"Our vision is to create awareness that there is a majority of people in this country who support the idea and find it patriotic that our troops come home as soon as possible. We need a clear vision for the future of how and when our troops will come home."

Okay, you want a better article, write it yourself. Please.

3-08-05

2008-07-02T14:46:00.001-07:00

Men Have Orgasms and Women Have Babies

inked with permission- the Lysstrata 2005 post.

Do I bore you? Tough shit. I'm not a princess or a diva or a drama queen or a bitch, I'm a female mammal. Biologically as opposed to culturally feminine, as in The Female Parent. I won't cry if you don't link me or comment. I don't care if you want to fuck me or send me jack-off pictures. And I don't know why, at this late date, me and one or two other busy, responsible adults are the heaviest hitters on this blog.

But I can't help it. If I were a princess or diva, I would put off writing this until I could make it pretty, so I could have more time to put on makeup and flatiron my hair before I go get my banjo strung. But I don't want men to lust after me. That's bush.

I want you assholes to wake up to what is happening to the world your mothers and I brought you into. Your sons are marked for the draft. Your daughters will possibly die seeking abortion. Oprah won't tell you - I just did.

I've got something for you all to do- it's an inspired idea.

What if I quit being Mom? What if we all did?

International Women's Strike Day March 8

What are you going to tell your children you were doing when your children are studying Cold War II- The Bush Years ? Feeling bad and sorta thinking about doing a little something off that funny blog you sorta remember?

Do nothing. We all can do that.

Now excuse me while I go play some blues.

3-12-05

2008-07-02T14:44:00.001-07:00

paxgitmo
To xtx
Date 02/17/2005 06:04:16 PM
Subject One Word
I just saw that you did the One Word thing today! Cool!

Are you still interested in giving toys to anysoldier?

I haven't followed up with that, but I will if you want.

see you around.

S

From: xtx
Date: 02/18/2005 08:36:31 AM
Subject : Re: One Word

Yay! I'm gonna keep doing it too. Thanks for cluing me in on it.

I will get something to the solider folks, but I"m very slow. It will happen. Bear with me.

xoxox,
Tracy
xtx
Date 03/02/2005 10:31:07 PM
Subject beefage in the spring
Hi Tracy, how are you?

I noticed you commented on Tim's post about the big donation TRUE's buddy got us for the Kevlar fund, so now I know you read it!

I am so proud of him. Inviting him to write for Bring the Beef was my best contribution to that site.

Anyway....not to nag, but what can I do to help you secure a donation to anysoldier.com? I have this idea that once we get a few sizable donations, I'm going to write a press release and make some links on other biggee sites. I want to make you a star, baby....or, at least your company. I wouldn't name names.

I am so sick and tired of thinking about all this. I wish the war was over and your brother and everyone else could stay home and watch porn and eat ice cream, but until then......

thanks for listening, hope to hear from you ,

Sierra

From: xtx
Date: 03/03/2005 10:12:22 AM
Subject : Re: beefage in the spring

Hi You!
I know I've been a slacker on this, but I just put together a box with 55 little puppies and bears. Most of the puppies make barking sounds when squeezed. I figured it would be easier to give one small box with lots of little things, then a big box with not as many larger things. Plus, from what the site says, it's better to send more manageable cartons.

Can you confirm that this is where I"m sending it:

MSgt Jacob H Verhoeff
Attn: Any Airman
407 AEG/ELRS/PAX
APO AE 09331
(Use address exactly as shown.) (5) Airman's Title: Shift Supervisor
Added here: 09 February 2005
Where in Iraq: South of Baghdad (1)
Contact for approx number of Males: 110 (2)
Contact for approx number of Females: 24 (2)
Expected to leave Iraq: 18 Jun 2005 (3)
(Airman will be dropped 30 days before above date.)
Restrictions to this address: Here (4)

If so, I'll get the paperwork going so I can ship it out. I'll probably include a little letter.

in terms of credit, I'd rather you just link me and not the company.

Thanks for not giving up on me,
Tracy

From: paxgitmo
Date: 03/05/2005 04:29:19 PM
Subject : Re: beefage in the spring

Hey, 'me',

Announce it however you like, girlie, you earned it!

I just looked back at the shipping information again, and it looks current. Just make sure that you use the address that's up THE DAY you ship.

The Custom Form required is no big deal either. The guy at Mail Boxes Etc. did mine for me, since that particular shop is an official AnySoldier collection center. It's really no big deal though.

Let me know where I can reach you to kick in for the shipping and insurance....I remember it being required if the shipment is valued over a hundred dollars, and that can really add up.

Ooh, I'm getting tingly.

- Sierra
*************************************************************************************

This morning, I read this -
Prisoners at Abu Ghirab included children

"He told me he was almost 12," Karpinski said. "He told me his brother was there with him, but he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother. He was crying."

Then I saw this picture of a five-year old Agent Orange victim ....one of dozens born with no arms, eyes, or brains.

Then two ducks landed on my pool for the first time since last spring.

Then, this.

==========Original Message==========
From: xtx
Date: 03/12/2005 12:44:17 PM
Subject : Re: beefage in the spring

THEY'RE GONE!!
INTO THE ARMS OF THE USPS!!!
FLY AWAY LITTLE GUYS! FLY AWAY!
INTO THE ARMS OF BRAVE MEN AND LITTLE CHILDREN!
I FEEL GOOD.
THANKS SIERRA....YOU MAKE ME A BETTER PERSON!

I want to be a better person too.

But now, I'm a happier person.

I hope those kids are too.

Thanks Tracy.

XtX

3-16-05

2008-07-02T14:43:00.001-07:00

Oldschool veterans like my grandpa and uncles and their friends love the Odyssey and its lessons.

The war never ends for the ones who fight.

It takes twenty years to come 'home.'

What I got out of Homer was darker, and more female lessons.

Men love war, and it hurts to kill. It hurts everyone.

It takes one son in a million to avenge his father's misuse by a corrupt king.

The patient and loyal queen knits by day and keeps her ears and eyes wide open and her mouth shut.

(For instance, I got two different emails today from four different individuals who are contributing to anysoldier as a result of the previous post.)

I want to ask Vanity Fair for a bulk rate for all the copies of the issue with this
story,

" It was at the LOGCAP office that deYoung saw how well KBR managers in Kuwait were living. They stayed in expensive waterfront hotels in Kuwait City and its environs at more than $100 a night per room. They availed themselves of hotel laundry service, even while KBR was paying outrageous prices to a subcontractor for laundry. And when they left their hotels, they didn't carpool or take buses. They'd requisitioned expensive-brand S.U.V.'s for themselves. DeYoung did some number crunching and came up with the figure of $73 million a year. That, she concluded, was what KBR was spending for its top managers in Kuwait City to live so well. More accurately, that was what U.S. taxpayers were paying-not including the extra 2-to-3-percent profit that came with the cost-plus system. (KBR says only a few managers are in off-base housing and that those in hotel rooms are routinely doubled up. DeYoung says the only people who stayed two to a room were men with girlfriends, "often the lesser paid Balkans girls.")

"What were the KBR managers actually doing there? Not overseeing construction projects, or kicking the tires of convoy trucks they'd brought in to supply the troops, or looking at blueprints for new army bases in Iraq. According to deYoung, they weren't doing any of that. They were sitting in their hotel rooms, or out on their waterfront balconies, giving the nod to subcontractors to do all the work. (KBR says it "self performs" some jobs and subcontracts others.) Once a subcontractor was hired, the KBR team had no idea whether goods or services were delivered, deYoung asserts. The team just paid whatever invoices the subcontractors submitted, and hoped for the best. (KBR calls this a "ridiculous claim" and says that all goods and services must be verified before invoices are paid. DeYoung says that's simply not true, and e-mails a blizzard of documents from her time in Kuwait to support her case.)" "

I want every person packing baby wipes and beef jerky for the 'troops' and feeling benevolent, to slip a copy of this issue of Vanity Fair in among the Stuff and People.

Knit shrouds, unravel by night, and buy time.

Welcome to Ben Allbright

4-2-05

2008-07-02T14:42:00.001-07:00

I disagree almost totally with almost everything he represented and said.

But I give props to the man who said this-

Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. - Pope John Paul II

Gotta give support to any leader who reminds us not to fear.

I've been doing some reading and writing on it, and just watching my fellow humans like I've seen them for the first time, and I realized,

...we have an indecent need to be led.

We want leaders. We want to take a man, usually, and call him a hero, so we can follow him and let him make sense out of the chaos that threatens us, and give us a soothing beginning, middle and end to the story playing out in our lives.

And when he fucks up (as he will, being human), we turn on him and the cause, whatever it is, and look for another man to turn into a hero.

Another ass to kiss to avoid using our own individual human conscience. Our own human need to connect.

"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."
-Pope John Paul II

It wasn't John Kerry. It wasn't Michael Moore. It wasn't Colin Powell. It isn't me.

"People generally despise where they flatter"- Aristotle

It's everyone.

I really, truly believe (as much as I can really truly believe any one thing), that the test for this generation is to junk the Neolithic concept of 'hero' or 'savior', and each join our little candles to make a nuke-u-lar flame.

Teach yourself to be your own salvation

Coexist .

Thanks to everyone who posted, commented or reads here. "Here" is usually an excellent place to start.

I have some ideas, and so do you. Let's each do a little something.

Because I don't know about you, but I'm sick of 'heros' who think, because they care about somebody else some of the time, they can steal pension funds or fuck altar boys or make a rake-off on cheap Kevlar, because, well, they're such great and special leader-types, you know?

Let's each be 'here', now, wherever we are. Be decent. Be real. Be the change, be the peace, all that 'lovely hippie shit' (tm Pete Townshend) that never really got tried because the hippies sucked the Movement Leader's cocks even worse than their opposition.

But mostly because, a lot of little people doing a little something is the only thing that works.

Respect for the rights of others means peace.~Benito Juárez

Simpleton and Ben Allbright are writing for us now.

Welcome.

I can't wait to see what we can do together.

5-1--05

2008-07-02T14:41:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our newest contributors, Samantha and Verbalchameleon .

This has to be a record- invitations issued, accepted, and articles forthcoming by two new people in one day. Something's happening here.

It's been my hope for a long time now to make it easier for those of us, in these post-draft era, to talk to 'the troops'. It's all in a day's work for me, but even here, those troops are used and objectified.

I have a few quick thoughts that I was able to spin out during my break tonight.

I'll give them to you in the order I got them. Let me know what you think-

This was first, in my work email this evening-

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It has come to my attention that quite a few Americans support our troops but as usual we are the silent majority. We are not organized to really reflect who we are. I would like to start a grass roots movement using the membership of the Special Operations Association and the Special Forces Association to recognize Americans who support our troops. My idea is not to stand on street corners once or twice, not to carry stupid signs in a rally, not to carry our flag in parades. Its much simpler than that. We need to inform the local VFW's and American Legion, our local press, local TV, and even up to the national levels as we start to get this going. My idea of showing our solidarity and support for our troops is that starting Friday and continuing on each and every Friday, that we and every red blooded American who supports our young men and women,

WEAR SOMETHING RED.

Word of mouth, press, TV, lets see if we can make the United States, on any given Friday, a sea of red much like a home football game at the University of Nebraska. If every one of our memberships share this with other acquaintances, fellow workers, drinking buddies, country club friends, I guarantee you that it will not be long before the USA will be covered in Red much to the disdain of the un-American ralliers.

Lets get the word out and lead by example, wear RED on Fridays. Thanks for your time and consideration of my proposal. When I get home, I intend to send this out to everyone on my e-mail list, hopefully, you will too.

Jim Butler SFA #1461 SOA # 1

This effort is supported by The Special Forces Association.

Wayne Lawley
President

My boss is an ex-Riot Grrl sellout hypocrite who drives a Hummer and forced an old Vietnam Vet who was worth ten of her out of his job so she could have it, but she once told a guy with 'only' two flags on his car to go back to Afghanistan. That's her idea of supporting a cause- forwarding retarded emails, and buying things you can wear.

Then, I got Samantha's BTB acceptance email. I started thinking..troops, really talking.

Halfway through my shift, I got a text from a friend who shares my distaste for Cafe Press for this site. She forwarded me the link to Adminzone , and their huge forum on Group Blog issues.

This all gave me a Bright Idea.

Why not upload our nacsent Bring the Beef stencils onto a RED T-SHIRT with the blog url?

Spreadshirts was by far the best of the alternative sites. Like Cafe Press, there is no minimum order required, but unlike every other blogshop I checked out, they are equipped to print digital images on dark colored shirts.

Like, oh, red for example.

(Here, go look what I made us - go to the 'shopping cart' and click for a lookee.)
And they have FLOCKED TEXT-Letters, which look hella beef-y.
If you all decide you want to go for this idea, Spreadshirts will print any Creative Commons-protected uploaded image that fits their technical guidelines.

Once everyone you know has one of our shirts, then we can start forwarding these emails to all and sundry....along with the complementary Spreadshirts Banner Ad for our shirt at the bottom of the page.

TRUE thinks we can meet a big dollar goal. This may be one way to add to the kitty (10-20% profit margin per shirt), represent the site, and maybe have a little fun doing it.

(thanks to PtReyes for all the linx.)

5-13-05

2008-07-02T14:40:00.001-07:00

I'm proud to say my hometown paper finds its nutsack and brings down the shithouse.

"London - Reports in the British press this month based on documents indicating that President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair had conditionally agreed by July 2002 to invade Iraq appear to have blown over quickly in Britain.

But in the United States, where the reports at first received scant attention, there has been growing indignation among critics of the Bush White House, who say the documents help prove that the leaders made a secret decision to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein nearly a year before launching their attack, shaped intelligence to that aim and never seriously intended to avert the war through diplomacy."

I'm in the middle of a creative project, and distracted by my third week in a row of houseguests. BUt this....this is some shit.

Facts were deliberately fixed for the worst of all possible reasons, to wage war.

"Read that again: “The intelligence and facts were being fixed….”

For years, after each damning report on BBC TV, viewers inevitably ask me, “Isn’t this grounds for impeachment?”—vote rigging, a blind eye to terror and the bin Ladens before 9-11, and so on. Evil, stupidity and self-dealing are shameful but not impeachable. What’s needed is a “high crime or misdemeanor.”

And if this ain’t it, nothing is." from Impeachment Time , Guerrilla News Network.

Oh Sweet Jesus does this mean we can finally ,you know, like, totally do something?

Dudes.
Offical Impeach Dubya Blog

5-27-05

2008-07-02T14:39:00.001-07:00

I got two messages this week that I think deserve responses.

If you don't buy a Buddy Poppy or buy a veteran a drink while you listen to her story, or pray at the grave of a fallen soldier, you can still have an interactive Memorial Day!

I got this comment in response to a post on my other blog about the disconnect between citizens and volunteer-armed forces-

"...What I don't get is why, if soldiers know that they are fighting a meaningless war that involves the maiming and killing of innocent people, (themselves included), then why don't they just lay down their arms and walk the fuck away?"

Actually a good, if simple question. Is there a simple answer?

This morning, I got this oily letter in my work email- (edited to prevent possibly fatal levels of insult to intelligence)

"An Armed Forces Memorial Day Message from the Secretary of Defense"

"Military service has always been one of our nation's most noble callings. America has long been the defender of liberty- the country who has stepped forward to defend those who could not defend themselves. This was true from our country's early days at Lexington and Concord, where the earliest citizen soldiers defended their farms and homes, their new country, and the cause of freedom.

"In the years that followed, U.S. forces have been freedom's champion....to today, in places like Kabul and Baghdad.

"...this new war we face has required the military to adapt its thinking, and challenged us to prepare in new ways.

"..our country is proud of every member of our armed forces - volunteers all - and we are deeply grateful to those who have sacrificed to the cause of liberty.

"May God bless every one of you, may God bless your families, and may God bless our wonderful country".

Donald Rumsfeld.

Is it just me, or do some of you feel like that piece of kiss-ass condescension begs a few logical questions?

Please give me some responses I can include in a reply to Rummy's friendly letter to my civilian comm center. Just so I can tell him we're not all Chickenhawk jock-sniffers.

"Deeply grateful for his sacrifice", the Army's fuck-ups cause the death of Pat Tillman, followed by a bunch of bullshit

"Tillman's mother and father said in interviews that they believe the military and the government created a heroic tale about how their son died to foster a patriotic response across the country. They say the Army's "lies" about what happened have made them suspicious, and that they are certain they will never get the full story."

God bless your families.

Support our Troops-

Veterans to Impeach Prez AWOL

Amnesty International's US Chief says, treat Rumsfeld like Pinochet

Think about the unseen, the misunderstood, the objectified wounded, as you celebrate Memorial Day.

2008-07-02T14:34:00.001-07:00

When my son was a pre-schooler, his favorite read-to-me book was the UNICEF Book of World Children's Tales. Mine too.

Almost every culture had a story, a myth, a mandate, to remember the tales of people who would resist a lie. Wilhelm Tell, Sarah and the Rabbi, Sir Galahad, all the poor, doomed Irish heros whose stories always ended in bravery and sadness.

My son's favorite were the Aesop's moral tales. One that I'm remembering today involved a mother lion who allowed her cub to be raised with rabbits. He forgot his lion nature when the hunters came.

When she told him he must roar even if it meant his death, she reminded him, "Rabbits only eat and mate. They only speak up once their whole lives, when they are killed".

Sometime while I wasn't looking in the past sixteen years, we have become a nation of rabbity lions.

We want a fixed game. A whiffle life. An '80's Rocky-Flashdance-slow-clap ending.

Reagan was our first Disney president. He seems positively benign compared to President Such a Fuckin Liar.

That's what this is about. Lies vs. myths.

Here's the thing- Americans used to remember our own stories. We didn't wait for Speilberg or Lucas or FauxNews to synthesize our realities and feed it back to us in cheese-flavored crisps.

The stories I remember are of the folks who fought the U.S. Government when it was acting the prick, and lost.

Or at the least took some hits.

Maybe I just don't 'get' the reasoning, well, what difference does it make what I do, it won't do any good'.

Because I an American in the tradition of

Crazy Horse

Rosa Parks

The Miner's Insurrection

Margaret Sanger, a mother doing time for saving women's lives with birth control.

Mohammed Ali losing his title at the peak of his career for his principles.

Or, closer to home, one of my co-workers who refused to give me permission to repeat his younger brother's story (an Army whistleblower), but who said this-

"Sometimes, you gotta be the Black Braveheart- you gotta take on the fight even when you know it's gonna end in a bad".

Where are the American Bravehearts?

All it takes is what we are trying to do

Witness.

Say "This is a lie".

"Here is the truth".

And to remember, heroes aren't always the winners.

Sometimes it's worth the fight for the tradition of courage you leave for your children.

I will remember. I promise.

6-21-05

2008-07-02T14:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of summer.

If you're anything like me, you're tired, preoccupied, relaxed, maybe a little twitterpated, and don't give a fuck about the 'shit that threatens to envelop us' (that's Flaubert) on a day-to-day basis.

Luckily for us, there is an online petition campaign that has an effective track record. Big Tanky sent me this link in today's email. Read, click, stay in the game.

*************************************************************************************
Hi,

Long after President Bush declared an end to "major hostilities," Americans continue to pay a terrible price for the Iraq war. Now, a British government memo ("the Downing Street Memo") suggests a sickening truth: that the Bush administration was determined to go to war all along -- even if it had to fix the facts to convince the American people.

We've got to act. We must make sure Congress gets the memo because Americans deserve to know the truth. Join me and demand that Congress hold hearings about the Downing Street Memo to determine whether the Bush administration misled us into war:

Petition

Thank you.
*************************************************************************************

Now, kick the cat off your beach towel, get another lemonade and take the rest of the day off.

7-26-05

2008-07-02T14:32:00.001-07:00

"I don't take offense to nothing 'cept a punch in the nose"- Tom Joad, Grapes of Wrath

Tom Joad

Iraq War Resisters From Within the Military

The Iraq Pledge of Resistance

Brother and Sister Veterans- "Refuse to fight! Refuse to kill!

And for us lambs to slaughter and warm fuzzies -

PLEASE HELP WE NEED YOU,
I am despartae for funds to get Kevlar to this hero, have raised enough for 3 blankets they need 6, can you put the call out?
Thank you for helping
626 398 4224
Patti
Soldiers Angels
http://www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/armor.php
SGT Cherry, William

HiI'm a M1 tank gunner over in Baghdad.I would like to request any soft toys that I can give out to the kids

over here.I've asked my parents and all of my family but they don't send enough.Our troop is responsible for a

sector of a bunch of farmers' villages and they're very poor.Please help the kids! Also if there are any more of

the kevlar blankets left please please send those!I don't know why our supply hasn't picked up on the idea

but it's amazing!Please send some so I can give them out to the other gunners.Our turrets are

aluminum.Thank you.I fight for people like ya'll.

"Ma's eyes passed Rose of SHaron's eyes, and then came back to them. The two women looked deep into each other. The girl's breath came short and gasping.

She said, 'Yes'.

Ma smiled. "I knowed you would. I knowed!' - Grapes of Wrath

2008-07-02T14:31:00.001-07:00

Perfect love casteth out fear. Imperfect love, silliness, tolerance of the absurd, casteth out anxiety and disgust with life.

I'm feelin' it.

This is sooooo much better than anything I could write today- a British blogger/eyewitness to terror, in his own words-

Tubes Really Are C*nts. So Are Terrorists. And Tony Blair

No, don't laugh instead of crying. Laugh despite crying.

We Are Not Afraid

7-13-05

2008-07-02T14:29:00.001-07:00

For TRUE

Scarlet Pimpernel (FreewayBlogger) to me,

June 12,2005 1:27 A.M.

hello again sierra- hope all is well...a bit of a slow start for summer of truth, but hopefully this letter to the troops will inspire...peace, scarlet.
*************************************************************************************

Last Summer, it started with this-

"Here's how it works:
When you put a sign on the freeway people will read it until someone takes it down.

Depending on its size, content and placement
it can be seen by hundreds of thousands of people".

(Hey, I can do that.)

The most important part of the FreewayBlogger Manifesto

"The most important sign to put up is the first one - it almost doesn't matter what it says or how it looks, just so long as it gets done. Soon. There'll be plenty of time to make signs that are prettier and wittier in the future, but the first one has to be done now."

Beautifully illustrated by this crappily, yet expediently made sign.

I was pretty good at this last summer. I got out of practice, and I lost my lookout partner, so I've had to limit my options. But IT CAN BE DONE safely and easily alone.

Coro-Plast and Magic Marker are the easiest. But don't wait until you can buy the trick-est materials; a job worth doing is worth doing lousy.

Get cardboard. Paint it white with Killz.

Write out your message with either enamel-based paint or Extra-Thick Sharpie (shown here).

For large signs, duct-tape the corners for reinforcement, then poke a hole in each corner.

Thread baling wire through the holes. This is the quickest, easiest way to entangle your sign in fencing, or hang freely over an overpass.

Keep the prepared sign in your trunk, ready to hang when opportunity strikes.

I keep pre-cut lengths of baling wire, a spare set of wire cutters, a roll of duct tape and a mini-maglite in a bag in my trunk. You never know when it will come in handy.

When operating alone, get a gimmick, like a dumb hat or sequined sneakers. I wear a lot of henna tattoos. When I get stopped, that's the only thing the cop remembers.

Go make a sign.

Good luck.

"Don't let the simplicity of the concept fool you: Freewayblogging is a lot more than just randomly sticking signs on the freeway. Pursued to its maximum effect, freewayblogging combines the arts and sciences of rhetoric, painting, engineering, psychology, physics and sneakiness. I encourage everyone, whatever their political bent, to try it. Unless, of course, you have nothing to say."

How To Be A Freeway Blogger

8-12-05

2008-07-02T14:27:00.001-07:00

"I cried because I had no shoes, then I saw a man who had no feet. So I said, hey, give me those shoes, you're not using them."

I started to feel like a loser because certain people weren't returning my messages and letters. Then I thought of a much better reason to torture myself- none of my soldiers have returned a letter in months.

I mean, perspective here, people. I had some shit go down while I was 'cross de pond, but it made me think of my brothers and sisters who got they asses hauled to Iraq and Afghanistan under even less luxurious circumstances. And, who am I to bitch about the chronic heat and humidity and lack of A/C or hot water in Italy when PFC Hunter hasn't had a hot shower in six months?

My last post about Buzznet and

'buzznet chick syndrome' pretty much grew out of that feeling....sharing Internet access in public does that to you. On one side of me, some cutie-pie is crying because her crush left two comments on another girl's 'legs' picture and none on hers, and on my other side, a boy is asking me to help him cheer up his brother in Rammstein who may lose three toes.

And I'm guilty too. I'm getting all insecure about my writing, about how I'm losin' it and the people who know me are bored by it, and I can't write a letter that the loneliest people in the world feel like reading.

Try it. Try writing to a stranger who is in a war you despise, for reasons you can't imagine, to defend a bunch of spoiled, stuck-up shits who think you're a loser and a fool for signing up, and are more interested in whose pix are hotter than the state of the clay latrine you share with 200 other dudes.

What do you say? "Sorry about your dead friends and ruined future, but at least Halliburton is raking it in?"

Soldiers and friends of the military, I know you are out there.

Give me a clue.

9-4-05

2008-07-02T14:25:00.001-07:00

TRUE recently asked how we blog-nerds can use this space to productively vent.

and Sam reminded us to take care of the 'victims' first.

(taking deep, shuddering breaths...don't want to be 'irrational' in my response, Frax...but I could fucking strangle a situation that makes victims and refugees out of American citizens)

Oh yes, how about this - Liberal Blogosphere for Hurricane Relief -

The Red Cross gets all the money.

Liberal BLogs get all the credit.

Easy Peasy.
Check it out.

Here is the blog button -

Liberal Blogosphere for Hurricane Relief

(Add to your site)

Hurricane Katrina destroyed thousands of lives.

Together, the liberal blogosphere is raising money for the Red Cross fund for food, water, shelter, and transportation out of the Hurricane Zone.

Please donate now.

I wish I could make this a more compelling post. I can't. I'm working another 12-hour shift tonight. Lots of military and civilian rescue air traffic. Irony- not just your pee after eating spinach, tm Big Tanky.

Discuss.

9-13-05

2008-07-02T14:24:00.001-07:00

Carnival of Ineptitude

I'm off for four days R and R.

Go see Axa13's place over at Buzznet.

Everybody try and take a break, okay?

There will be plenty of blame to go around, and plenty of work to do, for a long, long time.

9-15-05

2008-07-02T14:22:00.001-07:00

(reposted from my other blog. The title is a link. Join me, people. I know you are all more artistic than I am)
note- back-dated to keep TRUE's post on top.

I hate the word 'blogger' and dislike 'poet', but those are the only words that describe what I spend a lot of time being.

I don't like 'Freewayblog' either, but it fits.

When I was looking for a phrase for a sign, I wanted something 1) short, 2) easy to read, and 3) easy to paint.

I also wanted to combine the concepts of Hurricane Katrina-as-Bush's Waterloo, and the cynical (and continuing) cororate opportunism behind the invasion of Iraq.

Then I read this -(from The Looting of America by George Bush - by Donna Cinelli , via Moxiegrrrl .

"Michael Moore recently sent a 'Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush.' He makes some very good points, but I think he misses the big point when he writes about the 'incompetence' of the government.

No one is 'running the government.' Bushco is so busy figuring out how to make money off the government, how to sell off America piece by piece, how to privatize the next service, milk the next program, that he pays zero attention, and could give a shit less, to who really runs a program like FEMA and how effective they are.

As long as oil prices go up, Halliburton gets the cleanup contract and Bechtel gets the rebuilding contract, it works for him. Hell, incompetence in government makes him more money in the cleanup and the fallout from the disasters created by his 'government.' I'll bet his buddies own the companies that make prosthetic limbs and wheelchairs."

The result -

I had one shot at getting an hour to letter it before going into work on emergency overtime. This was a lucky break, as it gave me access to a frontage road fence that parallels a hella-crowded traffic corridor.

I wanted someone to look up, read the words, and have the meaning resonate in the unguarded, preconscious mind before the thought,"Does hell go with yes!?!?"

Keep giving me your ideas. I just might invest in some Coroplast and new markers.

9-22-05

2008-07-02T14:21:00.001-07:00

"...is the noise so loud, some of 'y'all can't hear? I'm looking on the t.v., I can see/bunches of people looking just like me."

"...who cares, while the son-of-a Bush nation stares the drama unfolds as we, the people under the stairs...."

STOP whatever you are doing. You, yes you.

Go read this,- After the Deluge, Musical Version by Red One.

Follow the links to the return of Public Enemy and the first decent protest song to come out in twenty years.

10-3-05

2008-07-02T14:20:00.001-07:00

(I was asked by an artist friend to put the word out on the Impeach Bush Tattoo movement. Mine didn't come out too well - the tatt or the pix- but my Buzznet post
was picked up and run with by buzznetter Xris. If you don't know him, go check out his galleries- he knows a thing or two about getting inked , among other things.

Here is his post, reprinted with permission)

Impeach Bush

Dear paxgitmo i hope this qualifies, as you know I'm always typing over people's shoulders at work, fixing this, changing that, so i thought. location. location, location!

btw did you see the I? uh uh did ya? I thinks I is clever hahaha.

As far as backing up this statement, hell yes! fire that crackhead!!
ok , ok, when 9/12 rolled around and i had been glued to the tv for 24 hrs listening to all that nationalism and newborn patriotism and Bush came out and said - we gonna bust a cap on'em terrorists- i was all into it I pulled out my gun and i was yelling- let's roll!!- but then we didn't go, I didn't go (where is Osama?) but then later on Bush comes out again and tries to avenge his daddy by telling us lies i mean c'mon he said- hey let's go after the terrorist's friend Saddam. I heard he has WMDs and called us pussies, I never seen the WMDs but he did call my dad a pussy-
And like many I still had my loaded gun under my pillow and months of propaganda in my head so i got all into it again- oh hell yess let's go kick some ass!!- but then, I didn't go, but many of my brothers and sisters did and lots of them died and all of the ones that are still overthere are in danger.
now I don't claim great wisdom.(and i know i quoted him wrong) I can't even put commas in their proper place but seems to me a President should know better, He should serve the people's best interest and not his own agenda, should keep a cool head at all times, a President shouldn't lie about the reasons he is taking us into war, he can lie about who he fucks but not fuck with people's lifes and that's why i think we should let him go, oh he's not going to miss work, it will be like another vacation for him but this time a permanent one.

sorry about the rant.
Buzzwords: impeach bush, sharpie tattoo

10-3-05

2008-07-02T14:18:00.001-07:00

An update -

I just got a reply from the liason for the Mississippi Guard Family Relief Fund. She was a little unclear on the concept, so I broke it down basically along the lines of, 'we support the troops and oppose the war, and want them to know we are thinking of them and putting up the cash to bring somebody home safe'.

Still standing by a reply.

In the meantime -

If you don't think what we're doing is worth supporting, look at how the vaccuum is being filled -

Like I've said, make it marketable,

and leave it to the young/pretty/white/thin

and you have a movement.

That isn't who WE are.

Support our Troops.

Support a counter-culture.

Impeach Bush.

10-16-05

2008-07-02T14:17:00.001-07:00

Here's the latest, will keep you all posted -

"don’t have an individual family names that I can give you but we do have a fund set up that is strictly to assist military families of servicemembers deployed overseas. It assists families that get in financial binds such as medical expenses, automobile repairs or have tragedies come up to they were not prepared to handle. It is the Mississippi Family Relief Fund. Would this be something that you are interested in or do you want a specific family to assist? I’m sure I can come up with a family but I have to get permission to release their information to you.

Thanks,

Melissa Tanksley, CW3"

10-30-05

2008-07-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's no fun to finish things you start, is it? It's even worse having to finish things other people start. Like the Iraq invasion. How are we going to end something with no end in sight?

Everybody wants to be the lead singer. The first violin concert master. What Rudyard Kipling called 'the gallant figure in a blood-stained scarf, staunchly waving his men onward....only some of us are the poor devils who get waved onward."

I didn't feel like doing this tonight. I would rather be starting something new and fun, like a Halloween costume for the party tomorrow, or my novel for NaNoWriMo.

But I think I'm not even equipped to be one of the leaders or the soldiers. I would be one of the urchins blowing the piccolo and beating the drums, the 'boys of the fore and aft' that hopefully try to bring out the best in the troops and call them back to end something with honor.

I sent one last email to the Mississippi National Guard Family Relief Fund and advised them that we are willing to donate our funds to any family in need whose active duty member was called away during Katrina.

But I won't do anything until you all have a chance to check it out.

Mississippi National Guard Katrina Relief Fund

And, just because I hope at least some of us know a soldier-

The Courage to Care

1-24-06

2008-07-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

"The other night I was talking with my friend Cinque, he was over at my place, we were out in the greenhouse together. And he was explaining to me how when a member of the Mende, that’s his people, how when a member of the Mende encounters a situation where there appears no hope at all he invokes his ancestors…tradition. See the Mende believe that if one can summon the spirit of ones ancestors that they’ve never left, and the wisdom and strength they’ve fathered and inspired will come to his aid.

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams… (Long pause). We have long resisted asking you for guidance, perhaps we have feared in doing so we might acknowledge that our individuality, which we so revere, is not entirely our own. Perhaps we’ve feared an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. But, we have come to understand, finally, that this is not so. We understand now, we’ve been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding, that who we are is who we were. We desperately need your strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, ourselves. Give us the power to do what is right, and if it means civil war, then let it come. And when it does may it be finally the last battle of the American Revolution. That’s all I have to say." - Amistad

What are you doing here, in front of the computer? I'm at work. I'll be in this cubicle until 11 p.m. tonight. But I have plans for the drive home..

I haven't written here for awhile because I am losing my patience with my fellow Americans. Not just the fucking sheep who believe FOX News or the well-meaning hypocrites lulled with sex, consumerism and celebrity worship.

I'm disgusted, bored and angered most by the cynical hipsters who shake their heads at my naivete and go back to reading that Osama's Book Club selection that confirms all their most superior and paranoid fears.

I'm disgusted by the intellectuals paralyzed by their own irony. And I'm pretty fucking sick of people 'too busy' masturbating while Rome burns to take a look at their own nascent extinction.

That's right. Extinction.

"Understand this, congressional Democrats, and understand it well: you are not dealing merely with a body of political opponents in the GOP. You are dealing with a group of people that want you exterminated politically. The days of walking the halls of the Rayburn Building, sharing a bourbon with a colleague from the other side of the aisle, and hammering out a compromise are as dead as Julius Caesar. Collegiality is out. Mutual respect is out. They want you gone for good. Erased. Destroyed.

And you have been far too polite about this. The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Back in 1995, Republican Senator Phil Gramm said, "We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." That was eleven years ago. If you listen close, you can hear the beasts baying in the distance, waiting to slip the leash. Your limp tactics in the face of the assault upon you, your vacillation, your strange hope that maybe the GOP will be nicer tomorrow, has left you all smelling like Alpo."

It wasn't that long ago that certain people I am descended from were wiped out by rich white men with a plan.

And I'm sure that some of the people on the Middle Passage or during the range wars or the coal uprisings were annoyed by all that yelling by the people who were being wiped out.

I'm not talking about complaining without purpose, or philosophical playing aloud with ideas.

I'm talking about saying "This is rape" when it is. That's all.

I'm talking about not being a punk ass for once.

There are internet filters on my work computer or I would have copied and pasted the entire text of the "World Can't Wait" State of the Union Press Release.

But if you're feeling, (like the Native Americans smelling gunpowder, or the Hawaiians burning their sarongs and putting on muumuus that the Missionaries brought, or the Temchic Indians falling to their genocide one by one in the Spanish mines,)

if you feel a definite chill of your own eradication in the air, you will do what you can where you are.

Or you will roll over and get punked.

John Adams: ...the test ahead of us is an exceptionally difficult one.

Cinque: We won’t be going in there alone…

Adams: Indeed not, no, we will have right on our side, we will have righteousness at our side…

Cinque: I meant my ancestors. I will call into the past, far into the beginning of time, and beg them to help me at the judgment. I will reach back and draw them into me. And they must come…for at this moment I am the whole reason they have existed at all.

1-28-06

2008-07-02T14:13:00.002-07:00

I mean it.

Do something.

How to organize
-how to get started organizing a local committee in your city, town, school, college, workplace, etc.

-organizing material (fliers, etc.)

-fundraising: if we are serious about driving out this criminal regime, we need to be serious about raising funds to sustain and build this movement

-outreach: bringing organizations, unions, religious groups, etc. into the movement

-press work: getting our movement into the media

-volunteers needed now

2-14-6

2008-07-02T14:13:00.001-07:00

I've written and deleted three drafts over the past week of stories related to the fatal Katrina-sized, turkey-shot-shaped breech in the BushCo ship of state.

I am so tired. So busy. Aren't you all?

THen my son (studying his skinny ass off for AP History exams and sweetly oblivious to the fucked up now) reminded me that both our February Presidents, and most of the Black History Month figures, all turned to poetry when drumbeats and rhetoric failed.

Washington favored Seneca and Shakespeare. Lincoln totally nicked his style from the grand old Hebrews of the Old Testament. King laid down the echoes of griots and Great Awakening speechifiers with his own blood and guts slammin'.

This one by Terry Jacobus speaks to me today.

Patience

those who love for god
and those who kill for god
expect to land
on the same plane as god
dear god, even if you are nothing,
hold me tight tonight
breathe me in a womb
and hold me to the light
kiss me like the fool
kisses for love
take me the way a soul
slides through the peaceful
door
lead me in a prayer
headed for the open heart
when you are ready
you will see us all
one spirit at a time
it may take an eternity
but I'll be patient
it's worth the wait.

Happy Valentine's Day

3-1-06

2008-07-02T14:12:00.001-07:00

Goddammit to fucking hell I can't write. But I can't sleep either. I've had this idea roiling in the back of my mind this past week and I realize at least one of the reasons why I feel like I can't write is because I would have to write some things that ain't purty.

Something has been going around the blog-wheel this week. And I don't think it's just me.

Maybe because so many of my blogspot confreres are beginning to post more on photoblogs, I've noticed that some people (I don't mean you) insist on telling the camera how to see them.
Maybe it was the third message I got that day that began with either 'party people' or 'freak'. As if those are the only possible names for any coalition I would belong in.
That isn't my problem though. I'm sick, literally surfeited, on the consumption of empty images.

Item One - Cheney was always just a bad bullshitter , "Why Cheney's Hunting Accident Matters" from GNN in which someone has the balls to say we want to see Darth Vader out of this hollow, pampered, psychotically deluded and pathetically paranoid poser who is less
a shootist and more a fat boy who dances when the House of Saud shoots at our feet.

"However pathological the macho death-cult of guns is in this country, the people who have taken the trouble to learn anything about firearms at all now know that Cheney is what my dad used to call a pig-hunter and a fool that traipsed around after his “one beer” lunch on the quail preserve with his finger on the trigger. He’s no more a hunter than Bush is a cowboy.

He’s just another stupid, pampered, autocratic narcissist like Bush—bullshitting his way through high office—and leaving bodies in his wake with as little concern for them as he does for 70 pheasants. In the age of postmodern politics, when the impression is sovereign, the gendered spell is broken for a moment when the costume slips".

Amen. Despite my 'freak' image, even if you do an interest search on my profile, you wouldn't guess that I'm familiar with gun safety. And even a nearsighted vegetarian treehugger like me knows the first fucking law of firearms is don't point the goddamed gun at anything you don't want to kill.
The second rule is taking responsibility.

More on the Quail Slaughter as Metaphor for the Iraq Fuckaround , from Tom Englehardt, Truthout.

See, we want easy images. "I always wanted to pretend to be an architect" said George on that pre-Internet classic series Seinfeld. If Jerry and the gang were around today, they'd be on MySpace fronting like whatever they wanted, and discussing politics with other 'freaks' and 'party people' preselected from their own self-flattering profile descriptions.

Which is the other thing I saw happening this week - We are noticing the blogs we're reading.
And we are asking, who isn't writing and why not.

Sometimes it becomes very difficult for me to politely point out why I don't want to join yet another group politcal blog.

The phrase 'we shot a bear' comes to mind.

Steve Galliard who is like an angry little canary in the salt mine of my soul, says it perfectly , in this pull-quote from "Us Coloreds Don't Be Bloggin'-
"The Greens were a bunch of college educated progressives who simply talk amongst themselves in the language that hardcore political junkies understood -- but nobody else could understand.
The Green Party was hardcore for the hardcore. It was where political junkies -- who lived and breathed politics -- went because they weren't satisfied with their other options. The Democrats sold out too much, so the Greens fled and started their own party because they just couldn't stand talking to anybody else.

There are many similarities to the problem of the Greens and the problem that the blogosphere faces. Let's face it, political blogs are for political junkies; it's hardcore for the hardcore.

You try telling a friend of yours who isn't as much of a political junkie as you are -- black, white, asian, hispanic, polkadotted, it doesn't matter -- try telling them to read your blog. They'll probably be like.. Yeah, sure, uh huh. Right. They might hit up your blog, or other popular blogs, a time or two, but that's it. Blogs don't speak to people who aren't political junkies.

Saying that blacks are "apathetic" is a racist cop out that shouldn't be tolerated. If bloggers expect our little universe to become more diverse, we're going to have to learn how to talk to people other than ourselves. Otherwise, "netroots" and the Green Party will share a common fate."

So what am I to do? I'm too busy with my own life for a change to read blogs, let alone write mine. And I'm becoming less and less careful about hiding my dismay at the creeping narcissism and exclusion of the groups aligned against Bush.

So I rented a movie.

RENT.

Oh my freaking god I want to wring my hands and weep at how short this movie fell from what it could have said! But let me say only - I was moved.
A real artist (as opposed to the obnoxious, emotionally retarded, self-indulgent, untalented and Yoko Ono-esque faux bohemian posers in the script) recognizes truth and art wherever she sees it. I didn't expect the Tragic Yet Sassy Gay stock character to move me, and she did.
The Doomed Queen not only was the one true life character, she was the only one with a real claim to revolutionary behavior. She took in a brother artist when he was wounded, Christ's own definition of charity. And she had the most high-profile eccentricity (hello, Hispanic drag queen) but also the only one with the coalition-builiding ability to co-exist. "Today 4 You, Tomorrow 4 Me" was not only the one listenable song on the soundtrack. It is also the most valid revolutionary creed proven in the past century.

The Farm Midwives didn't throw fetuses at pregnant teenagers looking for abortion. They taught themselves humane childbirth and abortion-repair tecniques. They offered to deliver babies for free, take care of them until the mother wanted them back, and then return them. They revolutionized health care in Tennessee and later the whole country.

The Veterans Against Involvement in Vietnam didn't spit on folks with a dog in the military fight like a son's death, to make them favor the war. They drew up visiting schedules to go see even the most depressing mental cases forgotten in VA hospitals, and they forged alliances that changed our foreign policy, and the military.

My son got into this site yesterday to which I can only say, now you're talking.

And, before it closed down, there was a cosmically diverting site up of Israeli cartoonists outdoing each other with sacreligious comix.

I send candy to women soldiers and write postcards to prisoners in Guantanamo. I interview veterans for the Veteran's History Project. I try to co-exist.

It's not much, but for now, it's easier than writing.

I'm not going to be around like I was. I'm not going to do it for you anymore.
There is no such thing as a 'party person'.

And 'freak' doesn't mean 'other people'.

This is still a democracy.

Someone is YOU.

Now go talk to someone who's never heard of the Coen Brothers.

3-12-06

2008-07-02T14:11:00.001-07:00

My son gave me a word-a-day calendar this year. It gave us something in common to talk about.

Sometimes I feel like that's all I have time for. To write one comment a day. Write one letter a day. Post one sign a day.

And every single day, the great well-meaning mass of people I live among remind me of how much more pleasant life can be when you stop worrying so much. Quit trying to change the world.
Why do I have to force people to think about bad things?

And I find this attitude strange. As if, examining the contradictions in your environment is the same as arguing. I don't think I'll change anyone. But I am a recovering addict - not to recognize bullshit when you see it is to begin to die.

Only to yourself of course.

The of Peace and Justice Times had an editorial recently which said,paraphrased,
that Bush is remaining in power because Americans want a King. He rules by fiat and divine right, and we gladly abdicate our need to hold him accountable in return for a clear conscience and the freedom to fill our minds with crap, and someone to blame.
Anyone who enjoys knowledge for its own sake and feels a moral obligation to intelligence knows how fun this makes you to be around.

But happiness, like self-examination, is the truest of revolutionary acts. I like myself when I can say, like Galileo, "And yet, it moves".

One word - "Disgust" -
" Soldier Quits Army in Disgust at 'Illegal' American Tactics in Iraq"

"I did not join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy," he said. He expected to be labelled a coward and to face a court martial and imprisonment after making what "the most difficult decision of my life" last March.

Instead, he was discharged with a testimonial describing him as a "balanced, honest, loyal and determined individual who possesses the strength of character to have the courage of his convictions".

One soldier. The first.

One word - Nightmare

In his book, " Kill! Kill! Kill!", author/Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey says he and other Marines in his unit killed dozens of unarmed Iraqi civilians because of an exaggerated sense of threat, and that they often experienced sexual-type thrills doing so.

Three first-person accounts of the Iraq Invasion have been reviewed recently.
Massey's is the only one acknowledging the cost of killing on the mental health of the soldier, and the Bush regime's institutionalized callousness towards both the ill-trained -and -equipped American military and the Iraqis they were supposed to protect.

"Overall, we have to look at the (Bush) administration in terms of responsibility for the atrocities and the murder at the checkpoints," he said, questioning "the level of brutality instilled in the Marines."

One version of the epic boots on the ground novel.
He has yet to find an American publisher.

"But I can look at myself in the mirror".

One word - Torture.

One picture of one man became the symbol of American brutality and brought attention to Abu Ghirab.

The public face of shame-as-torture has taken his notoriety as a bully pulpit to stop prisoner abuse.
"Mr. Qaissi has traveled the Arab world with his computer slideshows and presentations, delivering a message that prisoner abuse by Americans and their Iraqi allies continues.
Despite the cruelty he witnessed, Mr. Qaissi said he harbored no animosity toward America or Americans. "I forgive the people who did these things to us," he said. "But I want their help in preventing these sorts of atrocities from continuing." "

One voice.

Today's Word?

March.

4-3-06

2008-07-02T14:10:00.001-07:00

How does the post-we-know-he-lied,get over it White House deal with the sorry fact that too many troops are undersupplied?

Why, you ban all non-government-issued body armor of course. Easy peasy!

"The Army told The Associated Press on Thursday the order banning commercial armor was prompted by concerns that soldiers or their families were buying inadequate or untested gear from private companies -- including Pinnacle's popular Dragon Skin.

Murray Neal, chief executive officer of Pinnacle, said he wants to review the order.

"We know of no reason the Army may have to justify this action," Neal said. "On the surface this looks to be another of many attempts by the Army to cover up the billions of dollars spent on ineffective body armor systems which they continue to try quick fixes on, to no avail."

Early in the Iraq war, soldiers and their families were spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on protective gear that they said the military was not providing. Last October, after months of pressure from families and members of Congress, the military began a reimbursement program for soldiers who purchased their own protective equipment."

In the meantime, conventional wisdom (ie, most veterans against this war) are quoting appalling statistics showing that Rumsfeld will run out of volunteer troops long before our chestnuts are out of the Iraqi fire. The forces in active duty now are unofficially only about half U.S. Armed Forces. Before this fuckaround is over, it could be an all-mercernary army of paid book-cooking adventurist killers.

Well, I did sort of want to mortgage all my working years and my child's future making Halliburton richer.

What are we going to do about this?

4-21-06

2008-07-02T14:09:00.001-07:00

Oh christ yes.

You can tell me a dozen better things you have to do and I can tell you a hundred different ways 'protesters' work my old nerves, but sometimes you just have to represent.

I'm not a college student, but I know what I'm doing Mother's Day .

Find your street and take to it.

5-1-06

2008-07-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

"Mission Accomplished Chicken Hawk" bronze sculpture, Alex Wagman, 2005

"I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world." --- Stephen Colbert at the White House Press Correspondents dinner April 30, 2006.

Take an hour and a half out of your life.

Watch this.

Then meet me back here and let's roll.

%/13/06

2008-07-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

"Few realize that Mother's Day began not as a day to take Mom out for dinner, but" as a day for women to rise and leave home"to plan how to have peace in our world."'

Julia Ward Howe, the Mother of Mother's Day called on women during the American Civil War to 'make a noise against the forces who would take away a peaceful world from every mother's child".

I have to work. But I sent my mother a CodePink Tshirt and a rose in her name to Laura Bush. And Sonny's girlfriend and I will go to the local action on the way to his farewell concert tonight.

That's what I want.

We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. "

Mother's Day Declaration of 1870
Happy Mother's Day

I don't know how to protest.

2007-01-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know anything about effective protest, but I'm willing to learn.

I have ideas. I need experience.

Idea 1: The aim is to bring the troops home now. Everything else is secondary. All ideology is far away. In every action I must ask myself, "which alternative brings me closer to my goal?"

Idea 2: My method is by protest. I am looking grow our number.

Idea 3: Any American who wishes to bring the troops home now is my ally.

Idea 4: Turn away no ally. I must make efforts to be inclusive.

Idea 5: I prefer to spend my energy recruiting allies to fighting trolls. When I encounter the entrenched opposition, if they appear intractable I will sidestep them and continue my quest. I would rather get two people who are sympathetic to the cause to take action than to waste my energy battling with one who is not.

Idea 6: Actions are louder than words. My method is protest (see idea 2).

Idea 7: I must keep the movement pure. I have one goal, and only one goal.

Idea 8: I will arm myself with facts. They will be my armor.

Take to the streets in a keyboard world

2007-01-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

(to the person who posted this yesterday - thank you for making me think of this.)

email this posting to a friend

I NEED TO PROTEST THE WAR (pittsburg / antioch)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: comm-xxxxxxxx@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-01-13, 9:23AM PST

Hi: It's been more than 30 years that I publicly protest and involve myself politically. But, I cannot any more. We need to let Bush know that more troops is not the solution. We need our people back home and help Iraq become their own. We must let go, be a good parent. Parents to our kids and to Iraq now that we supposedly got Iraq free of their other bad parent.

I need to find an organization and be involved, do letters, flyers, education to the people. Does anybody know of a good organization to get involved? I need an organization that does not use violence, cohersion, strong public displays such as chaining, laying on the floor, etc. Can anyone recommend? I'll bring my whole family.

Thank you.

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Dear I Need,

I feel this, I really do.

I used my first Personal Holiday of 2007 to join an "Anti-Surge Demonstration" in my hometown, the first ever for this small, casualty-heavy exurb.
My husband has been telling me for months that he thinks Americans have got to grab the wheel from the Bush Administration before they drive us right into that oil tanker and over a cliff. He (and my other European friends) wonder what is wrong with the most prosperous democracy in the world, that we can't or won't be visible, make our feelings known, shout in the village square like our Spanish and British counterparts.

So, we took the step of offering to sponsor an action. Turns out this action led to the contact info for an existing event, which we never would have found otherwise. Be prepared to be a little frustrated, (see 4, below), but, also, this link is an excellent place to begin your need to protest.)

If this had been my first event, I would have been discouraged. So I'm writing this how-to in the spirit of other post-baby-boomer adult children who have had the experience of effective protest, and know what to expect.

I apologize in advance if this is isn't funny and interesting enough for such a broad target/topic. I'm at work now moving aircraft (and anyone who thinks there isn't a surge happening now has got their brains in they ass) and need to be concentrating on the job more than polishing up this post. But I want to get it out here by MLK Day. I want you to tell me how to make it better. There's several messages inherent right there, if you're still with me.

1) Do it NOW. Like freewayblogging. Like telling someone you love them. Like sending a burger to that homeless dude at the deli counter. You can make it prettier and wittier later, if you must. Action begets action. The flow of energy through an organism helps to organize the organism. Et cet. Which leads me to the next point...

2) Americans are other people, and other people are annoying. Every single goddamned one of us. Accepting this Great Secret Law is the basis of etiquette, common law and civil liberty. Deal with it. Embrace it.

I could practically hear my husband thinking, "I gave up a "P" day and waited around for eight hours for this?" when we joined up with our cohort at the meeting place. Yes, dear, you should remember from Cub Scouts, Poll working, Red Cross, not to mention all the church events our neighbors invite us heatherns to, this is exactly how volunteerism works.

Don't expect anyone to be smarter than you. Don't expect to be greeted with open arms. The attitude that has served me best when volunteering, whether at a homeless shelter or a political campaign is, "I am a temp worker- they're lucky to have me, yes, but it ain't all about me," and I don't expect a fanfare.

At best (and our event was tremendously satisfying), you will meet like-minded neighbors, make friends, bond in a common and worthy activity, and attract more numbers to your side.

At worst, you will be irritated at the experience of watching, from the sidelines, a bunch of annoying do-gooders bumbling around into each other, having the message co-opted by violent, and/or just crazie fringe groups, and making an ass of your cause.

This point leads to.... (see how this works? flow of energy, man)

3) Correct us. Please. It's a Wiki, Web2.0 world. Hurling incendiary missives from your arrogant-lone-genius blog-mountaintop is sooo 2005. I expect to be corrected, edited, quoted out of context, photoshopped, mashup'd, linked by single-brain-celled MySpacers, and...ignored. Sticks and stones, and all that. If you've got something to add, let's have it.

4) Inform yourself/Pace yourself. The two go together. Find a serious-but-skimmable accountable-yet-not-corporate news blog with diverse sources and check it regularly. Some of my daily reads are Truthout TomDispatch , Guardian Online and my personal favorite interactive (comment-enabled), blog, Steve and Jen's NewsBlog

Pace yourself. Guard your energy. It takes immense energy to ferret out the most useful sites, the right actions, to deal with the personalities involved, to manage logistics and swallow the insults or rejection of passersby, to brush off the feeling you haven't been heard or accomplished a thing. Don't deplete your momentum arguing with Freepers or conflict-addicts in anybody's comment thread. Stay far, far away from sites where more than one troll a day appears spreading their poison. While you're at it, practice civility yourownself, at least on other people's sites. It makes you feel bulletproof and saves your focus for the important battles ahead.

(editor's note - Another good reason to limit your time cyberpontificating - it gives you the false sense that you've done something when you've just talked about it.

5)(Warning - political incorrectness alert) - Everything is a costume or a uniform. Don't take it personally if people are underwhelmed by your appearance - dress the part of a citizen activist. To use personal experience, at the Anti-Surge Action husband and I attended, there were a hardcore group of the same ten or twelve Peace and Justice regulars that I saw at the anti-Pombo rally, and one or two CODEpink ladies. The median age was about 55. There wasn't a bright color or telegenic face among us.It sounds shallow, but it's just human nature. People notice looks. Thank god me and the other 'pinker were flying our colors - she with a brave orchid shuddering in the rush hour winds, and me with the scarf and hat my god daughter gave me for Christmas, that reminds me of our responsibility to her generation. The way we looked would have, and has, turned off many people, namely the Young Adventurists and Radical Sheep starlet-wannabes that so plagued my youth in the Peace movement. But we can't afford to be dismissed by our looks, by anyone. Why why why oh why do you have to look like a redneck's dream of a vegan weekend-naturist on a homeschool outing to show support for peace in Iraq? Where is it written you have to wear drab and faded flannel or a stupid ratty Uncle Sam hat, or show a stubborn disregard for clean, modern, appropriate clothing? And another thing - a little Raisin Burt's Bees makes people focus on your lips while you're saying "Bring them home now".
6) Conversely, if war abroad begets war in our hearts, protest most certainly begins at home.

Want to take to the streets? Start with your own. Seriously. Husband was discouraged at the size of our little action. Not me. I mean, look at the first paragraph of this message. As this war goes on, the number of protests is growing, and getting closer to home. We are everywhere. Do it. The more often the better, the closer to home, the better. Look positive. Be approachable. Don't waste energy in arguing or in despair. And don't forget to pester your representatives (this should really be under #1, but here it is - Contact your representative. Learn their names. Put their numbers on speedial. Report the details of your contacts in your blog (see #3).
7) Fuck an 'image.' You are more than what some stranger thinks you look like you are. I was told by a cogent and inscisive commenter at Buzznet that opposing the surge makes you an 'emofag'. I responded by sending her the name of a recruiter who would be delighted to hear that the surge will be supplied by dumbass faux- bisexual attention whores who are more afraid of being thought an 'emofag' than of a meaningless death. FOXNews and Karl Rove have so warped the environment of free speech that the only crime is to be unlikeable, or open to easy ridicule. Ever since the photo of Kerry waterskiing or Dean's Scream shell-gamed the Dems, we have all needed to be foolslapped. Don't feed this. Do you really want me to tell my son that he needs to die because Senator Boxer hurt Condi's feelings yesterday, or that preventing gays from marrying each other is worth the 3K dead for a lie? Okay, I'm getting mad. I know I just contradicted myself by admitting that I fed a troll,and that stupid people judge you by your looks, but I hope it strengthens my earlier point, and anyway, try to think of it as part of my charm.

The point is, diviseness made this mess possible. We need to get beyond it. And we need to get off our butts and away from the keyboards. This country is swirling down the drain, and I don't say that lightly. (In fact, it may already be too late for peaceful protest, but I'm not about to advocate assasination on this blog.) It is going to take sacrifice. Be willing to be disturbed by real news. Be willing to suffer heat or cold. Be busy. Be ridiculed. Be discouraged. Over and over and over and over until there is a crowd in every 'town square'.

The adventurists and starlets are bored and flirting behind their internet- profile -created egos again. The Democrats are issuing nonbinding resolutions in a time that requires impeachment. The Republican leadership is remembering Nixon and getting scared for their own asses. The military families are hesitant to demoralize their people in Iraq. The firebrand radical bloggers are back to macro-sloganing "Fuck Bush" at each other and feeling like they did something. And the average American is only dimly aware that it isn't as safe or as fun to be an American in an increasingly hostile and dangerous world, and they want more iCrap and reality programming to distract them.
That leaves you and me.

The way I look at it, saving this country is up to us.

If I were going to sum up a meme for the New Spirit of '76, it would be, Join Us.

In fact, the sign I held at our rush hour demonstration said just that. Now, to wrap up , I'll italicize the basics while saying what was going to be an ordinary blog post-

that night, with a combination of dressing like a self-respecting but unremarkable citizen,, being armed with an argument to refute 'you hate the troops' attacks, being rested and well fed and dressed enough to be pleasant and positive to passersby, and having an easily downloadable and clearly stated message,we attracted the attention of hundreds of rush hour drivers. Now, I've been at that same corner before, and got cursed or ignored. This time we got cheers. Honks. Fists. It was good.

One interesting footnote - the concept of 'social capital', ie, overcoming your own isolation in order to make connections that are win-win, paid off in a way that gave me goosebumps that night.

My hands were too numb with cold to keep holding my sign, so I walked over onto the sidewalk to approach the foot traffic. I noticed a young man looking at us, so I went over and game him a (bright red) flyer with our online petition information. Within a few seconds, we both said at the same time, "I know you!", but neither of us could remember from where. By this time, he and his friend had attracted the attention of one of the P&J Center leaders, and were drawn into a discussion. By the time I remembered where I knew him from, so did the rest of our group - he was a returned Iraq veteran who had been radicalized against the war by his experiences with Halliburton. We had met at the last downtown protest, another time he had been walking by, when I approached him for an interview for my blog.

This time, as then, when the media appeared, Lt. Moctezuma was the one they spoke to.

There is great power in the words, Join Us.

So, you need to protest?

Me too.

Join us.

appendix - tell your Senator, the Democrats need to quit shitting their pants over being called against the troops - Play up the 'support the troops, bring them home' meme.

Essential reading for anyone who doesn't personally know anyone in the military

Poster ideas