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
Friday, October 29, 2004
Thursday, October 28, 2004
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
...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
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Bushymandias
I have commented previously on Bush's staggering hubris. Today a parallel occurred to me.
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
I met a traveller from an antique land,I thought of bringing up the Bush who cried wolf issue, but it's been done.
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."
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
Monday, October 25, 2004
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
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.
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.
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