BELIEVE

It is easy to feel lost in the storm of political rhetoric, especially in the last days of a political season as charged as this one. It is easy, all too easy, to feel irrelevant in the face of Osama bin Laden's coming out as the world's pre-eminent supervillain, in the wake of 380 tons of deadly explosives that simply vanished, in the din of multi-million dollar ad campaigns and talking points e-mailed to millions.

Don't you believe it.

I have three subscribers: two more-or-less local friends, and someone I have never met, and never known until now. She wrote to me recently. I asked for and received permission to post parts of her letter.

I am an independent Conservative who has not once seriously considered voting for Kerry. My eldest Son, a college student in Texas, recently cast his first vote ever - for Kerry. That wasn't enough to persuade me to vote for Kerry. Moore's movie had no impact on my vote, either.

...

I desperately want that "hope" realized for AMERICA. Perhaps you're right and this JFK may be the one to do this. I don't know...all I know is that Bush43 is the opposite of everything bright and beautiful that AMERICA once stood for and could be in the future.

...

I am willing to give Kerry a try.

I include these excerpts, not out of some self-congratulatory feeling of triumph, but because recently I had been feeling futile. This blog seemed like a way to feel like I was doing something without actually making a real difference. In showing me how I had touched her, helped her see hope, she gave me that gift in turn.

Never believe -- never believe -- that you cannot make a difference, reach another heart, change another mind, touch another soul. This is the fundamental gift of vision and passion and creation that is the greatest part of the human experience, the light shining in us all. That is what our enemies want to extinguish. This is not about Bush, or Cheney, or Rumsfeld, or even Ashcroft or Rove. They are only symptoms of a greater disease -- fear of our ability to connect to each other and exalt one another. If we ever truly achieve that glorious potential, those who need to have power over others to feel important fear they will have nothing. Ironically, that is the true tragedy, because if they open themselves to that same glory they can leave their fears behind with the rest of us.

This is the time. Our moment has arrived. John Kerry is merely one of many representatives. He is a starting point. If he fails, another will take his place, and another, on and on, until we can finally rise above our fears and grievances and differences.

For now, this is a holding battle, a fight to stop those who would take us backwards into ignorance and terror. But know this forever: all you have to do is reach out and persevere. Try. Use your gifts -- writing, speaking, art, song, organization, technology, it doesn't matter. Connect to your allies. Connect to the undecided. Connect to those who disagree with you. Never give up. Never surrender. And you will make a difference.

Believe.

(/) Roland X
Hope is a phoenix

The Last Days of the Rovan Empire

Voter Suppression.

Found the following links which all seem to point to the same company that is suspected of tearing up Democratic voter registration forms in Las Vegas. It has set up registration drives in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Florida and Nevada and is accused of the same things in most if not all of these states. Sproul & Associates is a Republican consulting firm run by Nathan Sproul, former head of the Arizona Republican party and Arizona Christian Coalition.

Pledging Allegiance...to Bush.

"I want you to stand, raise your right hands," and recite "the Bush Pledge," said Florida state Sen. Ken Pruitt. The assembled mass of about 2,000 in this Treasure Coast town about an hour north of West Palm Beach dutifully rose, arms aloft, and repeated after Pruitt: "I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States."

Shamelessly exploiting the attacks on the Twin Towers.

On the front side, the ad asks in red print, "How Can John Kerry Lead America In A Time of War?" It adds three subsequent lines, "Kerry: Changing Positions," "Kerry: Cutting Defense" and "Kerry: Slashing Intelligence."

Following that, there are nine images of the front pages of Sept. 12, 2001 newspapers (shown below), all of which display the smoking towers of the World Trade Center before they collapsed, killing some 2,600 people. One includes the approach of the plane.

Desperation is thick in the air. With all the momentum on the side of liberty, justice and Kerry, expect every dirty trick in the book. There is no low to which they will not stoop, no ploy they will not attempt. The loyalty oaths are disturbing, the destruction of registrations outrageous, and the fliers revolting, but they all show just how terrified of losing they are right now.

The next four days will be very interesting indeed.

(/) Roland X
Kerry/Edwards 2004: Vote While You Still Can

Whatever It Takes

This is the Bush campaign in a nutshell. Lying. Cheating. Stealing.

Whatever it takes, indeed.

They have a problem, you see. Facts are partisan this year. Kerry says "look at the evidence." Bush says "trust me." Problem is, Bush's record when it comes to trusting him is, um, less than ideal. So Rove has one tactic left: the Big Lie. Demonize a true American hero while pretending his miserable failure of a candidate is a strong leader -- when they have to deny responsibility for everything.

So the leaders of "God's Own Party" spin and obfuscate and deceive. They shamelessly attack the rights of likely Democratic voters, particularly minorities, invoking the long shadow of Jim Crow. They cling to power the way a drowning man clings to a life preserver. And given what they have already done, they have good reason to fear justice. And so, to win this election and avoid true responsibility for their perfidy, they will do...whatever it takes.

(/) Roland X
Kerry/Edwards 2004: Vote While You Still Can

The Once and Future President

Once Upon A Time...

...there was a divided country choosing between a charismatic Democratic Senator and a powerful, divisive Republican. The Republican was known for his cunning and bag of tricks. The Democrat was known for his courage commanding a boat in combat and his Massachusetts heritage. It was the closest election since 1888.

Some guy with the initials JFK won.

Today, that brief shining moment in history is known as Camelot -- the time when American greatness seemed right around the corner, as if we had almost reached the gateway to a future undreamt of, and all we needed to do was open the door.

Instead of Camlann and Mordred, however, we had Dallas and Oswald. Vietnam, riots, a brother murdered, a nation in tailspin. The deceased president's great rival wins the White House, and ends up synonymous with political corruption. A future undreamt of becomes a half-forgotten dream from a brief shining moment.

And now, once again, America is on a cusp. Instead of a grand future, we stand on the brink of the abyss. Instead of eight years of prosperity, there have been four years of madness, hubris and folly. Instead of a war building in the background and a dream of a Great Society nearing its apex, we have a violent nexus of greed and incompetence and a nightmare of a New American Century.

In the legend of Arthur, it is said that he will return in Britain's darkest hour. Has our own leader from Camelot returned in ours?

John F. Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, has had a much longer career in Washington than President Kennedy did. His own naval career at the command of a small attack boat was strikingly different from the other JFK's, as was the aftermath. Where Kennedy lived in a time when the wink-and-nod was acceptable, we live in an age of hyper-intense scrutiny -- at least regarding Democrats.

And yet the parallels are undeniable. Kerry has been a crusader his entire life, whether in Vietnam or after it, as a prosecutor or Lieutenant Governor in his home state, or through nearly twenty years of fighting corruption in the Senate. He is attacked routinely from the right as a flip-flopping extreme liberal, in spite of the cognitive dissonance that position should cause, and as a spineless centrist by the left, in spite of his long, dedicated service to liberal and progressive causes. Yet anything resembling a thoughtful study of his life reveals a man dedicated to principle, to honor, to duty, and to the right thing. His whole life has been an example of how to cautiously study a situation until the right moment comes, then strike boldly. Turning his boat into the fire is the perfect metaphor of his life, whether in the rivers of the Mekong Delta, the streets of Washington DC, the courts of Massachusetts, or the halls of the Senate, where he helped expose Iran-Contra, CIA drug dealing, Manuel Noriega's betrayals, and the "terrorists' bank" BCCI.

Suffice to say he compares well to his predecessor.

Today, the Red Sox swept the World Series, winning for the first time since 1918. Just as a lunar eclipse -- a red moon -- came out of totality. In Busch Stadium. Against a team owned by Bush's old friends from his Texas Ranger days.

Has the sword been pulled from the stone? Only time will tell. But that's one heck of a good vibe out there. The portents look good and the momentum is all on Kerry's side. Remember, this is the man known as "Kerry the closer."

Arthur wasn't perfect either. He was a war leader who relied on his queen to handle peacetime logistics, he had a blind spot when it came to family, and man oh man, did he have a temper. Yet his courage, vision and moral code gave us the dream of "right makes might" rather than the reverse, a Round Table where all are equals (even the king himself), and a land of freedom, justice, peace and bounty, where all are protected and cared for.

The original dream of Camelot fell to tragedy and untimely death. The promise of its renewal always holds the hope that in its return, things will be different. I believe that the JFK of our generation, the man who steps forward to lead us in a time of darkness rather than light, has come just when history and America need him most.

Sir Thomas Mallory couldn't have written it better himself.

(/) Roland X
Kerry/Edwards 2004: Vote While You Still Can

Bushymandias

I have commented previously on Bush's staggering hubris. Today a parallel occurred to me.

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said -- "two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert ... near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

I thought of bringing up the Bush who cried wolf issue, but it's been done.

Win or lose on November 2nd, this is Dubya's fate. Feet of clay, a "sneer of cold command," and his deluded certainty etched into the record of history. Nothing more.

Well, okay, Cheney's the guy with the sneer. But still.

(/) Roland X
Kerry/Edwards 2004: Vote While You Still Can

Reality, Subjectivity & Hubris

Regular readers (all three of you) may have noticed that I briefly included the spreading meme "proud member of the reality-based community" in my blog title. I heartily agree that the Bush cabal is delusional to the point of being a global menace. Likewise, I have no doubt that a thoughtful, nuanced approach based on facts and evidence is desperately needed in the White House and other halls of power. I was happy to join the "Reality-Based Community" so casually disparaged in Ron Suskind's now-famous article detailing the administration's staggering hubris.

And yet...and yet...

All my life, I have felt that my relationship with reality was casual at best and antagonistic at worst. I'm the kind of guy who wears buttons that say "reality is for people who lack imagination" and "subvert the dominant paradigm." Between my (layman's) interest in quantum mechanics and continuing quest along the mystical path, I too believe that reality is a matter of perception and can be altered by force of will.

To a point.

Herein lies the rub. In the cause-and-effect world of Newtonian reality, some things just are, and getting around them (when possible at all) takes cleverness, hard work, and actual study of the facts. Further, even in the more "fungible" world of sociology, imposing one's will only goes so far when the subject says "no you won't either," even in the face of propaganda, threats, guns and bombs.

In other words, altering reality, whether through science or mysticism, is something to be done mindfully, with respect and deference to the vast powers around us. Simply put, I have a nuanced view of reality.

This is one of the many reasons I consider John Kerry to be endlessly superior to the madmen pulling Bush's strings. From all the evidence, their reality is a black and white world, and the world is an Othello board -- when they take enemy forces or territory, black flips to white. Our troops are greeted with flowers and candy, the "liberated" willingly allow their nations to be turned into market-based utopias, and "average" Americans can stop thinking about "them furriners" and go back to NASCAR.

Um, no.

Still, the point is, I have never been a member of the "reality-based community," particularly as many of its current defenders describe it. Hearing talk about the evils of faith, "occultism," "magical thinking" et. al. depresses me, even in the context of Bush delusionism.

I could go on at length on this topic, but I have other places to write about esoterica. So, in short, count me as a proud supporter of the reality-based community -- but not a member.

(/) Roland X
"We need a renaissance of wonder. We need to renew, in our hearts and in our
souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that
life is miracle and magic." --E. Merrill Root

Roland X on DMY

A three-parter, and the art they got for "Damsels in Distress" is wonderful.

Why You Should Vote Kerry, 2004-10-07

Damsels in Distress, 2004-10-18

The Betrayal, 2004-10-21

This last one is one he's been writing in his head for months, but wanted to save it for the final stretch.

Essential Liberty

The authorship is in doubt, but the sentiment is rarely challenged:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

The faith vs. reason battle between Bush and Kerry has been overtly exposed of late, in a swath of articles ranging from Ellen Goodman's easily overlooked but brilliant summation of the denial-based foreign policy to Ron Suskind's now-famous demolition of their empire-based community, which can supposedly change reality on a whim. (I, too, believe in the power of will to change reality, but understand that it's "hard work," as our President puts it.)

In my fiction writing, however, I try to keep in mind the difference between theme and plot, and I see more and more evidence that the war between denial and sanity is more of a theme for this election than the meat of it. And while Bush throws lots of coded red meat to his base, ranging from cultures of life to Dred Scott (code for overturning Roe v. Wade), his entire appeal to the center is "Kerry can't save you."

Ignoring the total deceit of that conceit for the moment, let us pretend for a moment that George W. Bush would actually keep us marginally safer than John F. Kerry. (I know, it's a really big stretch, but some people believe this.) For these people, the vote is between the guy who will keep Americans "safe from terra" and the guy who will recognize basic truths and the limits of Constitutional law. Even then, they're still on the wrong side of the debate -- because they're advocating the temporary security candidate over the essential liberty candidate:

The largest and most important [reason to elect Kerry] is the protection of American democracy. It is always difficult while enjoying the comforts and privileges of taken-for-granted liberties to imagine that they could be lost; but the elements of Bush's misrule have plainly converged to form this threat.

...

The Democratic Party generally wants to defend civil liberties and does so when it dares; the Republicans, with honorable exceptions, apparently would sweep them aside. The Democrats prefer social justice, however weakly they fight for it; the Republicans would give every dollar they can find to the rich. The Democrats are inclined to limit corporate power; the Republicans are corporate power.

I believe that this is the fundamental plot of the election. Kerry is finally, at last, out in front, but even in the most wildly optimistic landslide scenario for our side, we're not likely to win more than 55% of the popular vote. Think about that.

Forty-five percent of the people who will vote are willing to give up essential liberty for temporary security. At least. And at least forty percent are so disconnected that they don't see the danger, or the difference between the candidates, or just don't care. Either way, they won't bother to get involved.

Ben would be so proud.

(/) Roland X
Kerry/Edwards 2004: Vote While You Still Can

Too Radical For PAT FREAKIN' ROBERTSON!

First, a blast from the past:

• "Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."


• "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them."


• "Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals -- the two things seem to go together."


• "There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the Constitution. It is a lie of the Left and we are not going to take it anymore."

This cornucopia of wingnuttery is brought to you courtesy of Pat Robertson, the televangelist's televangelist, the grand high poobah of the Religious Right, the Dark Lord of American Radical Fundamentalism himself. There are few names more respected by the lockstep brigade or feared by the reality-based community. And here's what he has to say about Bush's detachment from reality:

Robertson, in an interview with CNN that aired Tuesday night, said God had told him the war would be messy and a disaster. When he met with Bush in Nashville, Tenn., before the war Bush did not listen to his advice, Robertson said, and believed Saddam Hussein was an evil tyrant who needed to be removed.

"He was just sitting there, like, 'I'm on top of the world,' and I warned him about this war," Robertson said.

"I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties.' 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties.' 'Well,' I said, 'it's the way it's going to be.' And so, it was messy. The Lord told me it was going to be, A, a disaster and, B, messy."

The White House is calling Pat Robertson a liar. Let me repeat that for emphasis: The White House is calling the most famous and prominent fundamentalist televangelist in the world a liar:

• White House and campaign advisers denied Bush made the comment, with adviser Karen Hughes saying, "I don't believe that happened. He must have misunderstood or misheard it."


• "Obviously, we already had casualties in Afghanistan at the time. If you look at that, that (the comment) was not consistent with what was going on," [Hughes] said.


• White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "Of course, the president never made such a comment."

All from the article quoted above.

Now, it would neither shock nor dismay me that one of these vile, despicable leaders is a liar. Still, it is, IMNSHO, deeply telling that a) Pat Robertson would feel a need to create potential distance between himself and Bush's Folly, and b) the White House is so scared and desperate regarding any blowback on said Folly that they're willing to risk alienating Robertson's legions of fundie sheeple by directly contradicting him.

Then again, things are already looking touchy between the political and religious lovebirds.

Influential American evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday that Evangelical Christians feel so deeply about Jerusalem, that if President George W. Bush were to "touch" Jerusalem, Evangelicals would abandon their traditional Republican leanings and form a third party.

Maybe there's some payback going on here. Maybe a rat's hearing "Nearer My God To Thee." Maybe someone's eager to try out his political muscle on his own. Regardless of the reasons, Robertson looks willing to ditch God's Own Party, or at least God's Bush...because this bunch is too whacked even for him. Bush, meanwhile, is poised to make his biggest mistake of the election season: alienating his base.

Feel the love.

(/) Roland X
Kerry/Edwards 2004: Vote While You Still Can

Why You Should Vote Kerry

The latest on DemocracyMeansYou.com from Roland X:

Why You Should Vote Kerry
(Hint: He's more than just Not Bush)
(First of a three-part final push into Election Day)

It is heartening for me to see progressives -- former Nader supporters in particular -- line up behind John Kerry. No matter how much they might like Nader, Cobb, or other great leaders on our side, they see the danger of a Bush administration and want to help take our country back. And certainly, the complaining has subsided somewhat after the way Kerry demolished Dubya in the first debate.

Read the rest...

The Purity Brigade

Thus Endeth Ralph Nader:

His candidacy, he argues, should be measured by the purity of his ideas and ideals, not his chances of winning.

Purity.

Pat Robertson and Ayatollah Khamenei believe in religious "purity." The Chinese government believes in ideological "purity." The KKK believes in racial "purity."

Holy Mother, haven't we had enough of purity for one species' lifespan?

(/) Roland X
Member, Non-Idiots for Kerry

The John-John Win-Win

A quick look at the debates.

There's not much to say about the Kerry vs. Bush showdown. It was the Hero vs. the Chimp, and it showed. Bush got in a couple of shots, sure, and Kerry missed a couple of chances to refute a gross distortion. Overall, however, Big John obliterated the Naked Emperor.

Captain Sunshine vs. Dick Luthor was somewhat more interesting. I thought Edwards won on style but Cheney on, um, "substance" isn't the right word when so much of his defense was outright lying, but I had to admit that he did it well, and with so many lies to refute, Edwards had to pass on a lot of them. I figured Cheney would look okay.

Poll after poll has Edwards winning big time, however -- not all of them, certainly, and many of them are non-scientific blog polls -- but damn, did I see a different debate? Even not-so-crazy Andy thought Darth Cheney stank up the joint, and he punted on the Hate Amendment (the one thing I'll give Cheney props for; even the comic-book Lex loves his daughter).

On almost everything else, of course, Dick lied through his Lex Luthor sneer. But he also messed up big time on something important: fact checking.

He told viewers to check out factcheck.com for the straight dope on the bad things that mean ol' Edwards was saying about him and his old company Halliburton. Problem is, he probably meant factcheck.ORG, a site dedicated exactly to what you'd think from its name.

The people who own factcheck.com, as it happens, are not fans of the
Bush/Luthor ticket. So they redirected the link to...wait for
it...georgesoros.com.

Meanwhile, factcheck.org posted a response saying that Cheney was full of it.

At the same time, Captain Sunshine was just beaming. He was the nicest pit bull you'll ever meet. I thought he let Cheney get away with too many falsehoods at the time, but with style meaning so much he just rode his charm to victory. I now think it was a deliberate strategy to let the post-debate debate handle the lies, a strategy that seems to have worked magnificently.

So did Cheney learn not to mess with the Internet? Probably not. This is a
man who continues to push a Saddam/al-Qaida connection, mind you (while
hilariously arguing that he never made an Iraq-9/11 connection). Still, it's
nice to see someone get what they ask for. Especially when it's exactly what
they deserve.

(/) Roland X
Personally, I prefer to go straight to Daily Kos. But that's just me. *G*