Mission Drift

I called my Congressman, John Sweeney (R) earlier this week and asked if he was holding any meetings this week while he is home to discuss Social Security. He is not. I then put out the word to my homelist of about a hundred people in his district, to call and ask this week if he was holding any meetings and if not, why not. I haven't heard any stories back from them yet, but when I do, I will be sure to post the interesting ones.

My Congressman continues to avoid the issue like the plague. And I understand about being For something, Not against something, you can be both at the same time. Sometimes we need to educate people who have been misinformed by our ill-informed media as to what the truth is, and sometimes we need to educate people as to the true extent of the damage done. Sometimes this sounds like Bush bashing. It is bashing to the extent that he is responsible for his policy. But at every opportunity, I like to respond to the people who say we "Liberals" (which is kinda funny to me because I was a registered Republican for ten years) are always complaining about what we don't like, blah, blah, blah, and is there anything that we DO like?

Here is my short list:

We like intelligent and thoughtful comments or questions that have at least a passing relationship to actual facts.

We like reading books, not banning them.

We like the constitution, just the way it is.

We like science and the arts.

We like reason and logic and respect for humanity.

We like a world-view that includes people other than Americans and Christians.

We like that activities involving God or sex lives are none of your business, or the government’s either.

We like the concept that healthy people are a boon to society, not a burden.

We like education and we'd like to see more of it happening regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or ability to pay.

We like a decent living wage for a day's work.

We like the truth. And we'd like to hear some of it from our government sometime.

And,

We like peaceful coexistence to the extent that it is feasible and reasonable. Even with people who disagree with us.

Mission drift, in America
indeed..
Both Krugman & Thomas Frank understand what has happened to us in middle America. Or perhaps, what we have allowed to happen, by allowing the message machine of the "right" to frame the debate and control the message:

Kansas on My Mind

By PAUL KRUGMAN
NYTimes.com > OP-ED COLUMNIST
Published: February 25, 2005

Call it "What's the Matter With Kansas - The Cartoon Version."

The slime campaign has begun against AARP, which opposes Social Security privatization. There's no hard evidence that the people involved - some of them also responsible for the "Swift Boat" election smear - are taking orders from the White House. So you're free to believe that this is an independent venture. You're also free to believe in the tooth fairy.

Their first foray - an ad accusing the seniors' organization of being against the troops and for gay marriage - was notably inept. But they'll be back, and it's important to understand what they're up to.

The answer lies in "What's the Matter With Kansas?," Thomas Frank's meditation on how right-wingers, whose economic policies harm working Americans, nonetheless get so many of those working Americans to vote for them.

snip~
The message of Mr. Frank's book is that the right has been able to win elections, despite the fact that its economic policies hurt workers, by portraying itself as the defender of mainstream values against a malevolent cultural elite. The right "mobilizes voters with explosive social issues, summoning public outrage ... which it then marries to pro-business economic policies. Cultural anger is marshaled to achieve economic ends."
snip~
In Mr. Frank's view, this is a confidence trick: politicians like Mr. Santorum trumpet their defense of traditional values, but their true loyalty is to elitist economic policies. "Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. ... Vote to stand tall against terrorists; receive Social Security privatization." But it keeps working.
snip~
So it doesn't matter that Social Security is a pro-family program that was created by and for America's greatest generation - and that it is especially crucial in poor but conservative states like Alabama and Arkansas, where it's the only thing keeping a majority of seniors above the poverty line. Right-wingers will still find ways to claim that anyone who opposes privatization supports terrorists and hates family values.
continue~
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/25/opinion/25krugman.html?

Interesting read, from a Republican... and it dovetails well with the "mission Drift" issue...

Why George W. Bush Frightens Me
By John M. Leone
September 10, 2004

INTRODUCTION

I voted for George W. Bush in 2000. At 26 years old, I considered myself a political "conservative." I had begun to follow and study national politics around 1998. The more I read and studied, the further I drifted away from my previous "liberal" beliefs. I had begun to look at Democrats with revulsion and thought to myself, "How could any sane and moral person who is paying attention vote for a Democrat?" I had truly bought into the charade that there was a legitimate difference between the two major political parties in America.

I was dead wrong.

Over the last few years since George W. Bush has taken office, I have continued my drift to the right, which began around 1998, and become more conservative in my political and religious thinking. The more years that go by, the less tolerance I have for compromise on the important issues of our time. As I have continued my study of American history and politics, I have had to unwind my tangled brain from the spin and lies I was taught and re-string it with truth and reality.

The realization that our great nation has undertaken a massive defection from our constitutional underpinnings was one that I did not welcome easily. I didn't want to listen to the arguments from the third-party wackos about how we had slid into socialism years ago and that the only way out was to abandon the two-party system wholesale. I was intellectually dishonest and did my best to shield myself from arguments wielded by traditional conservatives, or "paleo-conservatives."

From listening to and reading Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, I had all the party-line arguments against "liberalism" down pat. But I just didn't know what to say to the paleo-conservatives in response to their arguments against neo-conservatism. I thought many of their criticisms were entirely legitimate, but figured that these guys were living on the fringes of American politics and that I could safely ignore their wailings about a "tyrannical" government and the continuing "restrictions" of our freedoms.

One night in early 2003, I was listening to Hannity's radio show. A man called in and began to rattle off facts, figures, and moral positions that clearly identified him as a "conservative." Judging by what the man was saying, I guessed that he would be well received by Hannity and that the call would go well. Then the man began to say that there was no real difference between the two political parties and that Bush, by his actions, had proven that he was every bit as "liberal" as those who Hannity regularly bashed on his show every day. Just as the man began to talk about the "socialists" who run our government, Hannity shut him down by yelling at him, then terminated the phone call while the man was in mid-sentence. Hannity called the man a lunatic, or something similar, and quickly went to another caller without addressing even one of the points raised by the man who had been hung-up on.

I remember thinking to myself, "What in the world was that caller thinking? Bush is a conservative." But this radio incident tickled my brain for weeks and months as I began to seriously doubt, by observing his behavior, that Bush was a conservative. I wondered why Hannity, who by his own admission prides himself on "intellectual honesty," would argue day and night with ultra-left wing extremists, but when a right-winger calls the show with legitimate gripes about the Republican Party, he is yelled at and hung-up on.

I finally realized what it was that Hannity felt so threatened by during that phone call. The caller was exposing the neo-conservatives for the frauds that they really are, and Hannity could not and would not allow that to happen. Could you imagine conservatives around our nation coming to their senses and realizing that they were being represented by a bunch of warfare-welfare socialists? The only real threat to the neo-conservative movement is traditional conservatives. And these people must be silenced at any cost by men like Rush and Hannity.

As the Bush presidency wore on, I became more and more disenchanted with his actions. I began to realize that, although Bush and all of his supporters said he was a "conservative," this man qualified more for the political title of "socialist." I did my best to shed the neo-conservative paradigm that had gripped my mind and tried to look at what was really going on in American politics. I began to listen more and more to the little-heard voices from that right-wing political "fringe" that had scared me away before with all of their talk of a "constitutional republic" and whatnot.

The more I listened to these voices, the more I realized that this was my true political home.

BUSH, THE AGENT OF GOD?

If there were any doubts about the socialist tendencies of Bush, these doubts ought to have been washed away in the floodtide of political propaganda that was Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. As I watched the speech on television, I was fully prepared for a monstrous and unconstitutional gaggle of new big-government spending programs, and Bush did not fail on this account. What I wasn't prepared for was that Bush would make the stupendous and incredible claim that, as the Commander-in-Chief of our fine military forces, he sees himself working as an agent for the Almighty Creator God of the Universe.

The only thing more surprising than this claim was the fact that a room full of "conservatives" (many of them professing evangelical Christians) would stand up and bellow cheers at the President after his remarks on the God-mission he claims to be on.

Bush began this tirade of insanity with the statements, "I believe in the transformational power of liberty. The wisest use of American strength is to advance freedom." He went on to speak of this mysterious "power of liberty" as if is an actual physical force in our midst that cannot be controlled, but merely directed.

Somehow, the "advance of freedom" around the globe has become the mission statement of America, with George W. Bush as the head cheerleader. Forget all that nonsense the founders believed in about not becoming involved in unnecessary wars and entangling alliances. We are going to force-feed the "best" version of government to weaker nations around the world, whether they want it or not, all in the name of "advancing freedom." This is not news to anyone paying attention.

But what is news to me is that this forcible exportation of democracy is going to be done in the name of the Most High God.

Bush stated, "I believe that America is called to lead the cause of freedom in a new century" (emphasis added). The question then logically becomes, "Well, who is it that is calling us?" Are other nations around the world begging America to bring war all over the globe in the name of democracy? I believe the exact opposite is the case. Well, if other nations aren't calling America to a specific destiny, then who is? In terrifying fashion, Bush elaborates on who exactly he believes is calling America to "lead the cause of freedom."

After omnisciently claiming that people in the Middle East "plead in silence for their liberty," our mind-reading President goes on state, "I believe that given the chance, they will embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man. I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."

This statement is very profound in that it exposes the very root of the foreign policy thinking of this President. In the years to come, Bush has promised that America will be going to war around the globe to "advance freedom" in the name of God. He is going to force this "gift" from God on other nations at the point of the sword. If this kind of insane rhetoric doesn't terrify Americans everywhere, then maybe I am the only one who has lost his mind. But I don't believe this to be the case.

Bush might as well have said, "In the future, we are going to go to war against nations who present no threat to America, and we will do this not only because it is for their own good, but primarily because God wants us to." Going into unnecessary wars with nations around the globe is now seen in the beautiful and patriotic light of "advancing freedom" and promoting liberation, instead of war being a last resort and only necessary when our nation's security is threatened.

And at such a dreaded end lies the logic of the shame-faced neo-cons who found no WMD's in Iraq. With no evidence discovered to back up the claims of the legitimate threat to American soil that the invasion was founded upon, the neo-cons are trying their hardest to convince Americans that we invaded to liberate the populace of Iraq. The American people would never have supported the Iraq war solely to liberate the people of that nation. The war had support because Americans were told that there were massive inventories of WMD's in Iraq, and that these weapons were on the verge of being given to terrorists to use against our people. Now that no WMD's have been located, "advancing freedom" and liberation has become the rallying cry of the war-mongering neo-conservatives who are eager to invade other nations in the near future.

Bush elaborates further on the "called-out" nature he believes America is embodying, "Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom" (emphasis added). I humbly propose that this type of rhetoric would have shocked the consciences of the founders of this great nation; that America's destiny would involve pre-emptively and without just cause, invading other nations around the world, believing that God (or some other mysterious force that lives "beyond the stars") has called us to just this task.

A PLEA FOR SANITY

Mr. President, with all due respect, you may believe you are "called" to such action, but I reject this form of worship at the altar of the state. To elevate a nation to the status of an Agent of God is to introduce a wicked form of state worship and idolatry. The state may be given authority by God (Romans 13), but by abusing this authority and elevating the state into a realm where only He can and must reside is the most dangerous form of self-deception imaginable.

You may believe that America has been tasked by God to accomplish goals that, coincidentally, are politically expedient for you and your party, but I believe the Bible clearly speaks against such hubris and blatant statism, and therefore I dismiss it wholesale. I thought that God wanted people to preach the gospel of the Savior to all nations, not to force a certain form of government on all nations.

I feel that I am blessed to live in this great nation and I love America as much as the next man. I write this criticism not because I wish for America to disintegrate, but because I wish for a greater nation than we have today, and one that is in the tradition of what our founders intended. I love the America that was founded on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, not the monstrosity that America has become under an abusive federal government that is the sole arbiter of its own power, operating virtually unchecked.

Mr. Bush, just because you are waving an American flag at me does not make you any more patriotic than I, and it does not invalidate the fact that you are promoting state worship, neo-colonialism, and a Crusade through the mass export of endless warfare at what you believe is the behest of God. I can't imagine of anything more dangerous than a man, who is in charge of the greatest fighting force ever assembled on planet earth, believing that he is on a mission from God to invade other nations around the globe.

Frankly, sir, you terrify me.

Copyright 2004 John M. Leone

...and speaking of "What's Wrong With Kansas"...

Kansas AG demands abortion records
Full records include women's sexual histories

Friday, February 25, 2005

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- The Kansas attorney general is demanding abortion clinics turn over the complete medical records of nearly 90 women and girls, saying he needs the material for an investigation into underage sex and illegal late-term abortions.

Two clinics are fighting the request in Kansas Supreme Court, saying the state has no right to such personal information.

But Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion opponent, insisted Thursday: "I have the duty to investigate and prosecute child rape and other crimes in order to protect Kansas children."

Kline is seeking the records of girls who had abortions and women who received late-term abortions. Sex involving someone under 16 is illegal in Kansas, and it is illegal in the state for doctors to perform an abortion after 22 weeks unless there is reason to believe it is needed to protect the mother's health.

Kline spoke to reporters after details of the secret investigation, which began in October, surfaced in a legal brief filed by attorneys for two medical clinics. The clinics argued that unless the high court intervenes, women who obtained abortions could find government agents knocking at their door.

The clinics said Kline demanded their complete, unedited medical records for women who sought abortions at least 22 weeks into their pregnancies in 2003, as well as those for girls 15 and younger who sought abortions. Court papers did not identify the clinics.

The records sought include the patient's name, medical history, details of her sex life, birth control practices and psychological profile.

The clinics, which said nearly 90 women and girls would be affected, are offering to provide records with some key information, including names, edited out.

"These women's rights will be sacrificed if this fishing expedition is not halted or narrowed," the clinics said in court papers.

On October 21, state District Judge Richard Anderson ruled that Kline could have the files. The clinics then filed an appeal with the high court. No hearing has been scheduled.

The clinics outlined their legal arguments in a brief filed Tuesday. Though other documents in the case remain sealed, the brief filed Tuesday was not, and The Wichita Eagle disclosed Kline's investigation in a story published Thursday.

In their brief, the clinics' attorneys said a gag order prevents the clinics from even disclosing to patients that their records are being sought. Attorneys declined to comment Thursday, citing the order.

"You can see our desire to discuss as much as possible, but we feel constrained," said attorney Lee Thompson.

Thompson declined to say if his client was Dr. George Tiller, whose Wichita clinic is known as a provider of late-term abortions and is a frequent target of abortion opponents.

Kline would not discuss the scope of the investigation. Recently, Kline's office helped Texas authorities gather information from Tiller regarding a pregnant teenager who sought his care and died in Kansas.

Kline began pushing in 2003 to require health care professionals to report underage sexual activity. Kline contends state law requires such reporting, but a federal judge blocked him. The case has yet to be resolved.

Well, since we're on a Kansas kick, here's Klugman's commentary today about how the Republicans are on their standard disinformation campaign on Social Security.

BTW, the wheels are now in motion in my district to hopefully plan and hold a town hall meeting on Social Security and invite the local politicians and other interested groups (senior citizens, youth groups, church groups...)

Kansas on My Mind
By PAUL KRUGMAN
The slime campaign has begun against AARP, which opposes Social Security privatization. There's no hard evidence that the people involved - some of them also responsible for the "Swift Boat" election smear - are taking orders from the White House. So you're free to believe that this is an independent venture. You're also free to believe in the tooth fairy.

Their first foray - an ad accusing the seniors' organization of being against the troops and for gay marriage - was notably inept. But they'll be back, and it's important to understand what they're up to.

The answer lies in "What's the Matter With Kansas?," Thomas Frank's meditation on how right-wingers, whose economic policies harm working Americans, nonetheless get so many of those working Americans to vote for them.
--snip--
The message of Mr. Frank's book is that the right has been able to win elections, despite the fact that its economic policies hurt workers, by portraying itself as the defender of mainstream values against a malevolent cultural elite. The right "mobilizes voters with explosive social issues, summoning public outrage ... which it then marries to pro-business economic policies. Cultural anger is marshaled to achieve economic ends."

In Mr. Frank's view, this is a confidence trick: politicians like Mr. Santorum trumpet their defense of traditional values, but their true loyalty is to elitist economic policies. "Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes. ... Vote to stand tall against terrorists; receive Social Security privatization." But it keeps working.

And this week we saw Mr. Frank's thesis acted out so crudely that it was as if someone had deliberately staged it. The right wants to dismantle Social Security, a successful program that is a pillar of stability for working Americans. AARP stands in the way. So without a moment's hesitation, the usual suspects declared that this organization of staid seniors is actually an anti-soldier, pro-gay-marriage leftist front.
--snip--
So it doesn't matter that Social Security is a pro-family program that was created by and for America's greatest generation - and that it is especially crucial in poor but conservative states like Alabama and Arkansas, where it's the only thing keeping a majority of seniors above the poverty line. Right-wingers will still find ways to claim that anyone who opposes privatization supports terrorists and hates family values.

Their first attack may have missed the mark, but it's the shape of smears to come.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/25/opinion/25krugman.html?th

I have been away for several days and have only recently been able to read some of the threads. I have just completed reading "An Updated Excellent Adventure" posted 2/23/05. I will not discuss the points that were raised towards the end of that thread. Rather, I will point out my profound disappointment that people were encouraged, by others who helped to form this site, to abandon this site for other sites that they believe offer an opportunity for "action".

For my part I would like to say that it was this site that emboldened me to take action. I have formed a cell which is making an effort to effect some change in our community. We are in the process of working with local candidates, our local election board and the local media in order to more widely communicate our message.

The fact that an organizer of this site would encourage others to leave is beyond me. How does one explain it? There is no explanation other than being petty. Let's be sure our mission drifts closer to action and further away from argument and grandstanding.

U.S.—Russia Cooperation on Nuclear Weapons A Start, But Not Enough

February 25, 2005

Yesterday's agreement between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase and hasten joint efforts to reduce dangers posed by Russian nuclear weapons and materials was a positive step forward. Steps to upgrade security at Russian nuclear facilities and increase emergency response cooperation on nuclear incidents are critical. But more must be done—and faster—to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear weapons and other dangerous materials.

President Bush must make up for time lost during his first term on efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. As Matthew Bunn of Harvard recently concluded, fewer weapons-grade materials were secured in the two years after 9/11 than in the two years that followed the terrorist attacks. Today, only 22 percent of Russia's massive stockpile of weapons-grade, military-origin materials has received comprehensive security upgrades. Yesterday's agreement by the two leaders on the importance of speeding this work up is welcome, but they failed to clear much of the underbrush that snagged progress during Bush's first term. Consequently, it remains to be seen whether their pronouncements will actually result in the accelerated pace of progress that is essential in this age of terrorism.

Bush and Putin did almost nothing to stop the spread of Russian tactical nuclear weapons. The most worrisome weapons in Russia's arsenal are its tactical nuclear weapons, estimated at 3,000-20,000 in number. This range is indicative of how little we know about these small, portable and easy to conceal nuclear weapons that are especially attractive to terrorists. Unlike Russia's strategic nuclear weapons arsenal, which the United States is helping Russia to safely and securely dismantle, tactical nuclear weapons remain outside these programs. Unfortunately, Bush and Putin's agreement yesterday did little to secure these weapons.

The White House continues to pursue the wrong priorities on nuclear security. While the Bush administration has spent billions rushing to deploy a national missile defense system that does not work against a threat that does not currently exist, it has virtually ignored the route most likely to be used in a nuclear attack: smuggling the weapon or its key components (such as weapons-grade materials) into the United States. Even more disconcerting, the administration is researching new nuclear weapons concepts 15 years after the end of the Cold War, eroding America's capacity to strengthen needed cooperation on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran, North Korea, and possibly others.

Daily Talking Points is a product of the American Progress Action Fund.

Posted by: oncall at February 25, 2005 11:46 AM

It is curious, I agree, but we will not let ourselves be bothered by it. Let's hope that they are off and acting to bring democracy back to the American landscape in the best way they see fit, without feeling the need to do others harm in the process.

In the meantime, we shall continue to organize and act and support the DCP in every way that we can, and join Casey in calling and holding our Congressperson's feet to the fire during this week when they are at home.

If I could make a suggestion to the DCP: it would be helpful if you could publish a Congressional calendar as soon as possible, maybe in the form of a thread, and then move it to the forum. That way, we will all know when the members are back in their districts and we can fax them for meetings way in advance. That way they won't have any excuse NOT to meet with our cells when they are home. Maybe you could do an "Democracy Gets Local" week during the Easter break coming up, where we all make appointments to meet with our members, and if they say no, we constantly call the offices until they say yes, to meeting with us when they are home, and we lobby on voter reform or what-have-you?

I like this idea. Better still, I like the idea that we can post ideas here, ask for help and get an answer!

Oncall,

Since you are speaking about my words, I'll respond to them. So far, I'm not banned from here. :-)

I did not, in fact, encourage anyone to leave or "abandon" this site. I did encourage a poster to check out a site that is connected to Lakoff's work, work the poster mentioned they were interested in. That site is looking for volunteers.

The link I posted to the poster is also on this site. Maybe you'd like to see it taken down from here? If so, you know who to talk to. The same person that encouraged me to check into the site in the first place. :-)

In the meantime, the only thing I find curious and petty here is people who say "bite me" to other posters. That behavior is incredibly curious and petty to me.

But then, you know, different strokes. ;-)

Namaste, again. I'll be around until this subject dies down and my words are no longer being talked about. You know, the sooner, the better, folks. Let's move on.

Posted by: spinnaker at February 25, 2005 12:18 PM

Spinnaker, that is an excellent idea.

I have a problem only intervening when our own interests are at stake. But that depends how you define both our interests and our intervention.
Are we affected when a million people die in Africa from civil war, disease and starvation? Or with half the world living on less the $2.00 per day? If so, what do we do about it? Substitute the Balkans, the Guantanamo prisoners or those in two dozen or so countries where rulers are allowed to butcher their own people. There are many things wrong with BushCo’s Iraq at any cost policy. How you do things is just important as what you do; the old end vs. the means discussion. What Bush doesn’t understand or care; if the how is done carefully, it is repeatable. I have no problem with Sadaam being disposed. I wish it had happened many years ago. But we all have problems with the how. If Bush had morphed into Kerry and tried to get the rest of the world involved maybe war could have been avoided. If war happened, the rest of the world would support it because they would be stakeholders in it. Because of the intertwined relationships between Iraq and Europe, this would have been a hard sell. But I think exposing these relationships fully would have forced Europe to get involved.
So now Bush is looking at Iran and North Korea. Both are seeing the US bogged down in a costly adventure with public support leaving and a military being ground to dust. They can see this is not repeatable. Bush now wants the rest of the world to help out. Unless Europe’s interests are made to be a part of the solution, it may be in Europe’s best interest to allow us to flounder. Our only saving grace; if we flounder, we couldn’t buy their stuff.

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
~~Herbert Spencer,

Battlebob,

I've been scratching the back of my head about your last sentence:

"Bush now wants the rest of the world to help out. Unless Europe’s interests are made to be a part of the solution, it may be in Europe’s best interest to allow us to flounder. Our only saving grace; if we flounder, we couldn’t buy their stuff. "

What would you like us to do exactly, without backing Bush in any way?

Thanks for your lights.

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/

@;-) @;-) @;-)

Namaste
=======================================

kj, i agree we should move on. that is also what i said upthread.

could you please explain what you mean by your post that i have pasted?

Posted by: kj at February 24, 2005 04:38 PM

Mission drift...
This story is about Missoula, Montana.
It caught my attention because I am aware of this happening in my hometown also. There are about 2500 miles between Missoula,Montana and my small town. But apparently the story is the same: "the working poor" are slipping into disaster, despite being employed.
How could we have drifted so far from the "American dream", to where so many jobs no longer pay a living wage and have no benefits?

Where the Working Poor Eat

By Richard Manning, AlterNet February 23, 2005.

It has become increasingly difficult to work at small-town food banks because often one knows the client not as a beggar from beneath the bridge, but as a neighbor or colleague. Food banks today cater increasingly – and a sociologist's survey of our town bore this out – to people who are employed, the class we now call the working poor. These people earn so little they barely get by. Catastrophic medical bills or Missoula's escalating housing costs can chew up their inadequate paychecks so that by the end of the month there is no money left for food.

If we are to really do anything about the shameful matter of hunger in our town, we must address these larger issues. What at first looked like a little hole to plug now appears to be a bottomless chasm, ever widening.

There is something fundamental buried in all of this: where these people work. Many of them, report the food bank people, work full time for minimum wage and no health insurance at the ring of chain stores that has suburbanized this once unique mountain town. The big-box retail business has exploded in Missoula, making us a regional market center, part of the cause of our prosperity. That is, hunger is increasing in our town not in spite of our healthy economy, but because of it.
continue~
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21332/

Posted by: spinnaker at February 25, 2005 12:18 PM

Spinnaker, that is an excellent idea.

Posted by: oncall at February 25, 2005 12:45 PM

Indeed, that is a great idea. We're having a conversation locally right now about starting a letterwriting/phone call campaign to urge our representative to hold a town hall meeting on Social Security. I'd love to know when he's supposed to be home from D.C. and in our district. I found this site with the 2005 Congressional Schedule and I'll post the calendar dates in the forum's calendar.

http://www.thecapitol.net/FAQ/cong_schedule.html

Oncall, thank you for asking. I'll be happy to explain.

Since the people who were most heavily involved with Lakoff's work are no longer hosting the Book Club (although I am sure it will be up soon with someone great heading it!), when the poster expressed distress about what I took to be the tone of the conversation here and also expressed an interest in Lakoff's work being discussed, I thought, since I'm no longer working with Lakoff here, the least I could do was point that poster in the direction I had been originally pointed in.

That simple. I actually felt responsible that the poster was looking for discussion... and I hadn't mentioned to any of the bloggers here that it was shut down, at least for now.

I will express one more point: the Lakoff discussions were heavily researched and thought about over several months. There were plans to discuss the concepts in the work as well as plans to do simple, fun exercises to teach people how to tap into what's already in their own heads to create their own unique frames. It is most unfortunate that Lakoff, a man who is an expert in his field, has been written off by so many, before his work has even been looked at, or people have had conversations with others who have done the barest bit of study with his work.

But, life goes on. I'm not one to try and change the flow of the river... for too long. :-)

Bush wants troops and financing. What he would be willing to trade is questionable. I bet he hopes for a UN type force where everybody runs around in white hats. I don't see it happening though... do you?
My guess is Bush wants to cut and run as fast as he can and is looking for someone willing to pick up his bundle of garbage.
I think Germany offered to train a few cops; which is kind of interesting. One thing butchers know is repressive law enforcement. Since we do abu Ghraib so well, we can't train them to do anything different then they did under Sadaam.
Which to me brings an interesting moral dilemma for Europe. Knowing how bad conditions are in Iraq, do they help out because it would make the Iraq people's lives better? Do they exert their moral authority to do the correct thing? Will Bush allow them to exert it?
Would they help out knowing a stable Iraq is better then an unstable Iraq?
Are Iraq’s neighbors worried about ‘democracy’ spreading?
Or do they think Iraq will end up being run by a pro-American dictator?
Or maybe they think Sadaam will be replaced by someone less evil but just as repressive? In other words, we removed a threat to the rest of the middle-east tyrants.
Does helping out validate Bush's 'how'? If it does, then Bush’s methods are deemed repeatable and we can look for further sequels wherever oil is waiting.

Just FYI

To get to the forum's calendar, click on the word "Calendar" in the upper right corner of the page (on top of the logo bar).

ps. and the @;-) @;-) @;-) was to try and cheer up someone who I thought had been through enough.

I dunno, Oncall, I've been using that symbol for a long, long time. It's my way of saying, "hey, it's okay." Maybe my cat taught it to me. Who knows. @;-)

Sounds like this is an appropriate time to remind of us what a certain Mr. Edwards said earlier this month -- speaking not just for big-D Democrats but for liberals, progressives and, yes, even true conservatives who believe in the values that this country really *was* founded upon, back in the day:

"We believe in hope over despair, we believe in possibilities over problems, we believe in optimism over cynicism. We believe in doing what's right even when others say it can't be done. And we believe in fighting desperately for those who have no voice in America."

your 'W' decal won't get you into heaven anymore,
Otter

My aplogies to you. I am a novice to emoticons. I presupposed that was a wink and a nod to advise others to move their discussions to other sites. Maybe it was a reference to the hindu namastay? I have visited the site you posted several times-as you know, it is listed as a link on the DCP home page-and I do find it to be educational. As you know I enjoy the book club very much and look forward to it becoming active once again.

KJ,

What are you talking about? The Lakoff subject has not been declared off-topic here or anywhere on this site that I know of, and as far as I know, the plans to include lakoff's work continue, though now they will be without you.

Lakoff's work is important and valid and I think you would be hard pressed to find here who disagrees with that, although I do know of some people in the blogoshpere at large who think he is nonsense. But that doesn't included anyone I know personally.

I will say this though, Lakoff is not the ONLY way to be active in democracy. Moreover, I have little patience with people who say that if you don't read Lakoff, Bite Me. Lakoff is one way through the wall to government, but there are other ways, for those people that don't care to read him. The point is that not everyone who fought in the revolutionary war carried a gun. Some people also fed the troops.

Oncall, I use the "namaste" when engaging with others on-line (and I think the conversation is getting dicy) to show my intent that "the god in me bows to the god in you." I find it helpful, if only to remind myself, that I am engaging in a conversation with a person who has the same emotions... and right to them... as I do.

I've calmed many a person down over the years, and many on the JK site. I have always used @;-) as a sort of jokey, funny figure. Believe it or not, it's how I show compassion.

Namaste.

your 'W' decal won't get you into heaven anymore,
Otter

Posted by: Otter at February 25, 2005 01:22 PM

Otter, I always wondered what it is that keeps people from removing those silly decals from their cars. Now I know. If their gas guzzling SUV or car has a W decal on it and they are involved in a horrible accident, they think they will get preferential treatment. What a bunch of losers.

Now I know. If their gas guzzling SUV or car has a W decal on it and they are involved in a horrible accident, they think they will get preferential treatment

Both funny AND scary.

And Oncall, thank you for asking what my intent was. Whatever you think of my answer, I really appreciate being asked what I meant, and not have it automatically assumed to be a negative action.

Again please accept my apologies. I too have noticed that JK approaches crowds and assumes the namaste greeting. That is something that has really attracted me to him. To me, it is a physical expression of his core beliefs. I don't mean for our conversation to be dicey and again I am sorry for the very accusatory nature of my post.

Thnx, kj & oncall
You've taught me something new today. And that's always a good thing! I too was curious about "namaste"...so I googled it :-)

"In much of the world today, people do not shake hands when they
meet. They may hug formally or kiss one another on the cheek, as
in eastern Europe and Arab states. They may bow softly, eyes
turned to the ground, as in Japan and China. The Hawaiian
greeting, termed "honi," consists of placing the nostril gently
beside that of the person greeted, a kind of sharing of breath,
which is life and Pran(a).

For, Hindu(s), of course, the greeting of choice is "Namaste,"
the two hands pressed together and held near the heart with the
head gently bowed as one says, "Namaste." Thus it is both a
spoken greeting and a gesture, a Mantr(a) and a Mudr(a). The
prayerful hand position is a Mudr(a) called Anjali, from the root
Anj, "to adorn, honor, celebrate or anoint." The hands held in
union signify the oneness of an apparently dual cosmos, the
bringing together of spirit and matter, or the self meeting the
Self. It has been said that the right hand represents the higher
nature or that which is divine in us, while the left hand
represents the lower, worldly nature.

In Sanskrit "Namas" means, "bow, obeisance, reverential
salutation." It comes from the root Nam, which carries meanings
of bending, bowing, humbly submitting and becoming silent. "Te"
means "to you." Thus "namaste" means "I bow to you." the act of
greeting is called "Namaskaram," "Namaskara" and "Namaskar" in
the varied languages of the subcontinent.
http://www.flex.com/~jai/articles/namaste1.html

The French Reconnection
Europe's most secular country rediscovers its Christian roots.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/003/20.28.html

-Notice, in France the Evengelical Churches actually help the poor! Unlike here, they are not exploited for their vote.

[snip]
The French government may not officially recognize religion, but it would do well to at least recognize evangelical communities' indirect, healing role in preventing one of France's greatest headaches: Islamic radicalism. Here's how it happens: As often the only institutions interested in befriending the poor, evangelical churches offer a safety net to immigrants. They help them assimilate—find apartments, jobs, friends. Consequently, evangelical churches seem to be stopping some of the newcomers from becoming easy prey for Muslim fundamentalists and from engaging in criminal behavior.

I just posted this on my blog with a pic so chilling it will make your heart stop.

Excuse any errors I just wrote it.

Little Soldiers

Hello Little Soldier,
tell me where you've been.
It can't be far, you have no car
For your only nine or ten.

Tell me Little Darlin,
Where did you get that gun?
Your tiny hands stretch to span,
What I see to you is fun.

And in your lovely little face,
Is the sweetest smile of death,
But hollow are your pretty eyes',
And haunted is your breath.

Come here, my Little Soldier.
Sit and tell me things,
Do you ever mind what you find?
Can you even dream?

I need you Tiny Warrior,
To explain it all to me.
I have no way to understand,
The world my eyes have seen.

A childs' life is simple.
And a soldiers' life is too.
Tell me in your childs voice,
What can a woman do?

Why do you point you gun at me?
My children are your age.
But they do not have your eyes',
So full of death and rage.

Why is it you won't speak to me?
I only wish to save,
A life so strong and vital,
A life so early brave.

Can I hold you Little Soldier?
Can I rock away your pain?
Please dont pull that trigger.
There is nothing there to gain.

Oh God! I understand now,
Your orders have come through.
Please Little Soldier!
Think of what you do!

Man, itself, betrayed you!
Once you left the womb.
Man,itself has trapped you,
Into a childs tomb!

And women, too, betrayed you.
Because we can't fight back.
But if you kill me child,
You will kill the hope you lack.

I see now Little Soldier.
You can not be stopped.
Your eyes are dead, and face so red,
And the death of man is cocked.

Even as I feel it, child,
I beg you look away.
I cannot see your pretty face,
As you do what men say.

Christy Cole

To see the pic with it, its at :

www.rebellenation.blogspot.com

Thank you KJ and Oncall,

I too have learned the Namaste symbol, today. I have never seen it before, and I am terrible at understanding emoticons.

Now I am wondering about what the emoticon would look like for "honi". Would it be >

Christy,

This one is for you. I love a Friday afternoon poetry thread. KJ, will you post a poem for us, too?

The Peace of Wild Things


When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

Battlebob,

This is only an article and what it doesn't tell is that the Evangelical Groups are under close watch of DST (Direction of Security of the Territory) just the same as the Islamists.
One of their "churches" was closed 2 weeks ago by the mayor of a suburban city next to Paris, for example.
We know what is going on, but the big problem for those people is "not breaking" the 1905 law on Laicité, strictly parting church and state. They are mad enough at the law commemoration that will last all through 2005, but they remain an "epiphenomenon".
We are aware of the danger.

"And as a nation, we consequently have mission drift—away from our values and principles, away from our aspirations and goals, away from our benchmarks and outcomes, toward a corporate fascism that should cause every single one of those teachers and schoolchildren to make note of the disconnect between the words of the Pledge and the loss of those lofty goals. Look around, America. We’re adrift."

Posted by Karen at February 25, 2005 10:10 AM

~I would say, this economical news today is a sure sign of "mission drift":

Foreign Investment's Flip Side
U.S. Trade Deficit Swells Along With Consumption, Debt

By Paul Blustein
Washington Post Staff Writer February 25, 2005

Every other night or so, the calls start pouring in from Asia to the homes of Peter Leonard and several traders he supervises at Nomura Securities in New York, jolting them awake sometimes as often as five times a night.

The calls come from places such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, where investors want to buy U.S. mortgage-backed securities, which are essentially giant packages of mortgages on thousands of American homes. Such sleep disturbances have roughly doubled in the past year, according to Leonard, reflecting the sizzling demand among Asian money managers for a piece of the U.S. mortgage market.

The interrupted slumber of Nomura's New York mortgage traders is one small facet of the rapidly rising flow of foreign money into U.S. financial markets. This torrent of capital from overseas has become indispensable fuel for the U.S. economic engine, helping to keep interest rates low.

But the influx of capital has an ominous flip side -- the ballooning U.S. trade deficit, which soared 24 percent in 2004, to $617.7 billion. The dollars spent by Americans on Japanese cars, Chinese televisions and other imported goods end up in the hands of foreigners, who plow them into U.S. Treasury bonds and other securities like the ones sold by Leonard and his fellow traders.

Therein lies a serious worry for many economists: As the deficit mounts, so does America's overall indebtedness to foreigners, which now totals about $3 trillion. That would be less troubling if the money streaming in from overseas were helping to finance a boom in productive assets such as factories and machinery.

But to the contrary, economic data show historic highs in the proportion of U.S. spending on consumption and housing. Not only is the United States piling up debt, it is doing so while consuming at record levels.
continue~
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51650-2005Feb24.html

Ty Spin I will definately look up Berry ...

Dear Media Reformer:

Community Internet may be the most important media policy fight of the decade. Local communities across the country -- looking to offer affordable, universal access to high-speed broadband services -- are squaring off against big cable and telephone companies determined to outlaw the competition.

In a few years, all communications -- TV, radio, Internet and telephone -- will come through broadband Internet connections. If Big Media has its way, access will cost more than $100 a month, and corporations -- not communities -- will determine what information is available and what's not.

The fight for tomorrow's technology is being waged today. Here's what you can do:

1. Watch Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott on tonight's broadcast of NOW, the PBS news magazine. (Click here to check your local listings.) Then visit Free Press' new Community Internet site to learn more.

2. A rapid response from vocal citizens is the only way to stop the cable and telephone companies when they try to sneak in bad legislation under the radar. Help us win the next battle by getting 10 people to sign up now as Free Press e-activists for future actions. It's free and takes only a few seconds.

3. Meet and strategize with other activists working to defend Community Internet at the National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis on May 13-15. You can register for the conference online or by calling (866) 462-2838. We need you to be there to build this important campaign.

With your help, we can stop Big Media -- and win the struggle for the future of communications in America.

Onward,

Josh Silver
Executive Director
Free Press

P.S. Early bird registration for the conference is still available, but not for much longer. Register now.

Oncall, no apology necessary. :-)

I am Irish with a heavy dose of Scottish Pict warrior blood. Plus, am an Aries. Using "namaste" reminds me not to post in anger. I mean, posting in anger and then saying "namaste"... hmm... there are nuns somewhere that would have me for breakfast. LOL

And yes, I agree. Lakoff isn't the only way to go. Wars need all sorts of warriors, dishwashers, cooks... I absolutely agree with that (you're talking to an ex-waitress here!). But, to have his book actively encouraged would have been a good thing (if only to help those who had the best interests of the DCP at heart), and not the folks saying they didn't want to learn it being highlighted *at the same time*. Really, a timing thing. But then, I was ready to go with it months ago right here on the blog. Maybe it was just all poor timing.

Que sara. You know me, I'm impatient. I'm already figured how ways to use what I've learned and apply them right here in Rural Red.

Think Rural Red is ready? bwaahhahhahah! @;-)

Das boot!

Condoleezza Rice's commanding clothes
Top diplomat eschews typical female attire for sexy, 'Matrix' look

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7027049/

Great find Battle Bob

Here is the link to free press

http://www.freepress.net/

Building the Barricade

We were afraid as we build the barricade
under fire.

The tavern-keeper, the jeweler's mistress, the barber,
all of us cowards.
The servant-girl fell to the ground
as she lugged a paving stone, we were terribly afraid
all of us cowards--
the janitor, the market-women, the pensioner.

The pharmacist fell to the ground
as he dragged the door of a toilet,
we were even more afraid, the smuggler-woman,
the dressmaker, the streetcar driver,
all of us cowards.

A kid from reform school fell
as he dragged a sandbag,
you see we were really
afraid.

Though no one forced us,
we did build the barricade
under fire.

Anna Swirszczynska
From "Building the Barricade"

Swirszczynska was a military nurse during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Posted by: battlebob at February 25, 2005 02:37 PM

MadameDefarge posted a notice about that conference in CoolEvents last month. It describes the conference in a little more detail.

http://www.democracycellproject.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=236

Sounds like a winner! Hope there are some DCP representatives there.

i pledge allegiance to the fact that george bush is misleading america.

and to the bong for which he sucked, one liar, under god, unbelievable that 58,000,000 have no conscience at all.

speeking of Bush's bong...
Benson on Bush moral values...

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/

Be a gardener.
Dig a ditch,
toil and sweat,
and turn the earth upside down
and seek the deepness
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor
and make sweet floods to run
and noble and abundant fruits
to spring.
Take this food and drink
and carry it to God
as your true worship.
~~Julian of Norwich

Just to be is a blessing.
Just to live is holy.
~~Rabbi Abraham Henschel

~~ and they call this "liberating Iraq????
Mission-NOT accomplished!

Iraqi women eye Islamic law

The majority United Iraqi Alliance supports sharia.

By Jill Carroll, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD - Covered in layers of flowing black fabric that extend to the tips of her gloved hands, Jenan al-Ubaedy knows her first priority as one of some 90 women who will sit in the national assembly: implementing Islamic law.

She is quick to tick off what sharia will mean for married women. "[The husband] can beat his wife but not in a forceful way, leaving no mark. If he should leave a mark, he will pay," she says of a system she supports. "He can beat her when she is not obeying him in his rights. We want her to be educated enough that she will not force him to beat her, and if he beats her with no right, we want her to be strong enough to go to the police."

Broadening support for sharia may not have been the anticipated outcome of the US mandate that women make up one third of the national assembly. But Dr. Ubaedy's vision is shared by many members of the United Iraqi Alliance, a list of religious Shiite candidates that won a majority of seats.
snip~
In the nearly two years since the regime of Saddam Hussein fell, pressure has grown for women to conform to stricter Islamic standards. "The Baath Party, with all the things many believe they did wrong, [still ensured that Iraqi] women had the most rights in the region," says Rime Allaf, an associate fellow with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, where she is researching women's status in Iraq. "Now, a lot of women are being very careful about how they dress. They are being told by perfect strangers, 'You need to cover your hair ... [and] your arms.' "

As a result, a central concern is how Islamic law might be interpreted and implemented. "Sharia depends on the man who is giving the law, the [religious leaders] and others. No one can guarantee sharia will be applied perfectly," says Abeer Rashid, a female candidate on Allawi's list who didn't win a seat.

continue~
http://tinyurl.com/7xyxr

Think Rural Red is ready? bwaahhahhahah! @;-)

Nope, they aren't ready, and I'm not telling them you there! Go get 'em!

And this revolution is going to take all of the soldiers, cooks, dishwashers (where do I requisition one, please), mothers, fathers and poets it can get!

And when I read poety like Swirszczynska, Berry and the Dagger's Hilt poet, I am wondering where the Iraqi War poets are? Have they emerged yet? That would make an interesting, albeit dangerous in these times of grabbing anyone off the streets under a suspension of habeus, blog to have up somewhere.

Oh yes, I'm sure the poets are there... and writing. There are poems in "Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness" edited by Carolyn Forche (that I just can't push enough!) that were found written on the barest scraps of blood-soaked paper in the pockets of a poet found in a mass grave.

It is more than mindnumbing what we are capable of doing.

Wait... one more poem to come.

I was reading the case of Arar today after reading the Bob herbert column today. It is mindnumbing both how we can destroy and what can survive deliberate destruction. Which made me think of this poem:

THROW YOURSELF LIKE SEED

by Miguel de Unamuno

Shake off this sadness, and recover your spirit; sluggish you will never see the wheel of fate that brushes your heel as it turns going by, the man who wants to live is the man in whom life is abundant.

Now you are only giving food to that final pain which is slowly winding you in the nets of death, but to live is to work, and the only thing which lasts is the work; start then, turn to the work.

Throw yourself like seed as you walk, and into your own field, don't turn your face for that would be to turn it to death, and do not let the past weigh down your motion.

Leave what's alive in the furrow, what's dead in yourself, for life does not move in the same way as a group of clouds; from your work you will be able one day to gather yourself.

i wrote one for Iraq but it may seem a bit clumsy

more and more i feel a pull in that direction..

Heres one i wrote for Sept 11th

To Brave the Sorrow (America 2001)

I was there watching,
The day Sorrow lived and died.
One beautiful September day,
It took us by surprise.
We all stood in witness,
As Terror took our breath.
Evil smiled and laughed in glee,
And visited us with Death.
Sorrow was born there in the flames,
Our Innocence was taken.
The terrible cost of thousands of souls,
Left the earth,itself,shaken.
The Fear did leave a gaping wound,
And Sorrow knew us all.
The Devil flew us into ourselves,
Hoping we would fall.
And Sorrow lived and tested us,
So big that all men knew,
That Devil walks among us.
And the Terrible is true.
Now calling, screaming, for the lost,
Searching through the night.
Hardly bearing Sorrows weight,
By the dawns early light.
But with that day came the news,
And Sorrow too could see,
That though we had lost the fight,
We had fought on United 93.
Hope was born, as Anger burned,
And Hatred too, did flare.
Sorrow suddenly lifted and turned,
Because our flag was still there.
Pride then connected us.
And Sorrow could not stand.
The entire world reached to us,
Our flag clutched in their hands.
Understanding draws us close,
And Sorrow is no more,
Satan’s twin has shown himself.
He called us each to war.
Fight, we must, through the Fear,
The Stars and Stripes still wave.
Though our Freedom has cost us dear,
We are the home of the Brave.

Christy Cole Sept.2001

It is hard to believe where we have come since then

Anna Akhmatove was a well-known poet in Russia before the revolution. (During the revolution, her son was confined in prison. That's what the following poem is about.) Her worked was banned in Russia for quite some time.

Instead of a Preface

In the terrible years of the Yezhov terror I spent seventeen months waiting in line outside the prison in Leningrad. One day somebody in the crowd identified me. Standing behind me was a woman, with lips blue from the cold, who had, of course, never heard me called by name before. Now she started out of the torpor common to us all and asked me in a whisper (everyone whispered there):
"Can you describe this?"
And I said: "I can."
Then something like a smile passed fleetingly over what had once been her face.
~~Leningrad, 1 April 1957

oh wait I forgot I wrote a love poem for a friend of mine in Iraq..it was his anniversary and I dont usually do love poetry but i got thie for him.

To Mary From Her Husband

To my sweet Mary Isabel,
I'm far from home tonight.
I left our shores to fight a war.
The enemy has taken flight.
And when the fiery battle lulls,
Peace quiets dessert skies.
I see only you, I wish you knew.
How haunting are your eyes.
Men who are my brothers,
Keep me moving on.
My lovely Mary Isabel,
I wish that I was home.
You've taken care of everything.
Our children give you reason.
And oh my Mary Isabel,
I find no joy this season.
Here in these darkened trenches,
I cry for you tonight.
All this while I miss your smile.
I see your memory in moonlight.
Dearest Mary Isabel,
I know you sit and wait.
When this war passes to lore,
Our sadness will abate.
Soon now I will come to you.
In my heart I'm always there.
My sweet Mary Isabel,
Til' then you must take care.

By Christy Cole
December 27, 2003
Happy Anniversary

let me again repeat im not a love poet by far..

Kj that is just chilling....

Christy, those are lovely, very descriptive poems. They made me feel something, and that's my favorite part of poetry. The feeling.

spinnaker, the poem by de Unamuno is wonderful. He is a new poet to me. Must find more of his work!

Ty Kj...Im very glad you liked it.

BTW everyone ill quit clogging the blog now

Well, we have to have one by Langston Hughes!

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Last one for this "Mission Drift" (alas, works calls):

Laughter Breaks

Laughter breaks like sun rising;
the whole world shimmers and light
shakes as though the belly of Earth
moves with the mirth in one’s own gut.
The power to celebrate excess wakes in us;
we know enough to joke around, to survive
the agonies of feeling irreversible pain
explode upon the day. We sing of folly
that shapes experience, remember
to act indelicate and play. Coyote,
mangy as ever, grins and whispers
our sisters’ names; he plots to climb
into the sky and dance with stars
down some eternal day. We giggle
like children, grateful that fool
never did learn to behave. Life
carries us down a stream that gurgles
between rocks and sings improbable
songs. Who cares we’ll have to paddle
like hell and know panic before we get home.
That’s how all the good stories were born.

by: Gail Tremblay
from: Indian Singing in 20th Century America

~its Friday, have a laugh :-)

Ashcroft's name substitutes for obscenity in movie

Richard Leiby Washington Post Feb. 24, 2005

WASHINGTON - You're an Ashcroft! No, you're the Ashcroft!

Imagine hearing that exchange in a movie - you'd think that Hollywood had come up with a crazy new insult. Well, it turns out that some airline passengers watching the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways" on foreign flights are, in fact, hearing "Ashcroft" as a substitute for a certain seven-letter epithet commonly used to denote a human orifice.

The Post's Monte Reel, based in Buenos Aires, tells us he heard the former attorney general's name substituted at least twice in "Sideways" dialogue when he watched the film earlier this week on an Aerolineas Argentinas flight to Lima, Peru. The movie was shown in English and the dubbing was done "in the actual voices of the actors," Reel reports. Star Thomas Haden Church utters the A-word.

Profanity is typically cut from in-flight movies to make them suitable for general audiences, but how did the studio come up with "Ashcroft"? Hoping for enlightenment yesterday, we queried Fox Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind "Sideways." A spokeswoman initally e-mailed us to say she had "all the info" about dubbing, then failed to respond to our followup questions.

Ashcroft did not return our phone message, but we're certain he was busy and not just being an...

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0224Ashcroft-ON.html

Think Rural Red is ready? bwaahhahhahah! @;-)

Posted by: kj at February 25, 2005 02:37 PM

Probably not, but if there ever was a time for them to know the pickle they put themselves in, now is the time. As I have said on many occassions, the future is now. Show them what they have been missing.

on.to.victory4Dems

Above the Ashcroft name substitute article is an ad for irritable bowel syndrome or IBS for short...
This is not a fun thing to have, but the ad postioning above a picture of Ashcroft is really appropriate.

Oncall, will do. @;-)

And one more poem, for Ira:

The Wall

We are standing under the wall. Our youth has been taken off like a shirt from the condemned men. We wait. Before the fat bullet will sit down on the nape of the neck, ten, twenty years pass. The wall is high and strong. Behind the wall is a tree and a star. The tree pries at the wall with its roots. The star nibbles the stone like a mouse. In a hundred, two hundred years there will already be a small window.
~~Zbigniew Herbert

(This is one I read to myself when impatience, my constant companion, threatens to take the day.)

Ira, we are that tree and we are that star.

KJ:

I love Miguel de Unamuno. Here's a link for a brief bio of him: http://www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=357. Like a number of Spanish poets at the time, he was also a philosopher, as being a philosopher (think Kiirkegard) gave him cover for the work that he was doing. His work as a poet solely would have made him even more vulnerable. As it was, he was taken from his office, and the poem above, which was to become one of his most famous, grew out of his capture and what followed. Here is that story:

When the fascist General Milan-Astray stormed into the University of Salamanca to confront the elderly professor and poet-philosopher Miguel de Unamuno over his criticism of Franco and the fascist cause, Unamuno said to him:

At times to be silent is to lie. You will win because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince. For to convince you need to persuade. And in order to persuade you would need what you lack: reason and right.

The general shouted, "Death to intelligence! Long live death!" and drove the ailing poet out of the university at gunpoint. The poet suffered a heart attack and died within the week. It was 1936, soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

Okay, one last Miguel de Unamuno, for the winter in our hearts--

The Snowfall Is So Silent


The snowfall is so silent,
so slow,
bit by bit, with delicacy
it settles down on the earth
and covers over the fields.
The silent snow comes down
white and weightless;
snowfall makes no noise,
falls as forgetting falls,
flake after flake.
It covers the fields gently
while frost attacks them
with its sudden flashes of white;
covers everything with its pure
and silent covering;
not one thing on the ground
anywhere escapes it.
And wherever it falls it stays,
content and gay,
for snow does not slip off
as rain does,
but it stays and sinks in.
The flakes are skyflowers,
pale lilies from the clouds,
that wither on earth.
They come down blossoming
but then so quickly
they are gone;
they bloom only on the peak,
above the mountains,
and make the earth feel heavier
when they die inside.
Snow, delicate snow,
that falls with such lightness
on the head,
on the feelings,
come and cover over the sadness
that lies always in my reason.

Miguel de Unamuno

Drift Away
Words and music by Mentor Williams

Day after day I'm more confused
But I look for the light through the pouring rain
You know that's a game that I hate to lose
I'm feelin' the strain… now ain't that a shame

Oh, gimme the beat boys and free my soul
I wanna get lost in the rock and roll and drift away
Gimme the beat boys and free my soul
I wanna get lost in the rock and roll and drift away

Beginning to think that I'm wasting time
And I don't understand the things I do
The world outside looks so unkind
Now it's up to you…to carry me through

Oh gimme the beat boys and free my soul
I wanna get lost in the rock and roll and drift away
Gimme the beat boys and free my soul
I wanna get lost in the rock and roll and drift away

And when my mind is free
You know a melody can move me
And when I'm feelin' blue
The guitars coming through to soothe me
Thanks for the joy you've given me
I want you to know I believe in song
Rhythm, rhyme and harmony
They've helped me along… they're making me strong