fearless
now playing: gordon lightfoot, "carefree highway"
so - in case you haven't heard, a vote for kerry is a vote for the terrorists, according to dick "boogeyman" cheney.
"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney said.
the response from the challengers?
Edwards told reporters that "Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line."
"What he said to the American people was that if you go to the polls in November and elect anyone other than us, and another terrorist attack occurs, then it's your fault," Edwards said during a stop in Chillicothe, Ohio.
"This is un-American. The truth is that it proves once again that they will do anything and say anything to keep their jobs."
Edwards said a Kerry administration "will keep the American people safe, and we will not divide the country to do it."
this in light of the news that we now officially have 1000 dead in iraq, and at least 335 dead in beslan...yeah, the world feels like a reeeeal safe place right now.
(if you'd like a closer look at the casualty debacle, stop by here or here.
we're part of the problem, not the solution.
if this is what we get with four years of a president who has the added benefit of a majority representation in the senate, the house, and the supreme court, then i'll pass.
oh, and it now looks like president chickenhawk is already trying to squirm out of at least one of the debates.
maybe he's got other shit to think about.
also, i could swear that when i opened up CNN's home page, they had a story about bush wiggling out of the middle debate...but it seems to have disappeared - not unlike their mysteriously missing story on dubya's illegal abortion.
just got back from picking up lunch at the convienence store down the street, and couldn't help but notice that MiserableFailure's picture is on the cover of both Time and Newsweek (who does he think he is? bruce springsteen?)
i opted, instead, to pick up tracks magazine (with willie nelson and los lonely boys on the cover). henry rollins has a back page column where he discusses a recent trip to baghdad. an excerpt:
...by the time i left to return to kuwait, my thoughts were conflicted and confused. i don't see a winnable situation in iraq. you could nuke it or your could leave, but there's no real way to win. it seems to me that as long as our troops are there, they will be the targets of iraqi aggression.
please vote this year. who you vote for isn't my business, but please value your voice and the chance to make it heard. if the draft comes back, please remind our leader that he has two very draftworthy children who i'm sure would be proud to give something back to america even if a hole has to be dug.
my name is henry rollins. i am not a journalist, a political know-it-all or a salon.com hipster - just a concerned american who loves his country and hates weaklings who sell out the strong.
why does henry rollins hate america?
i mean, it should be obvious who the REAL enemy is...
i'm finding that i feel a real reluctance to write lately (and it seems i'm not alone in that regard).
i think it comes down to being overwhelmed by so much of what i feel is wrong right now. i recall hearing david crosby saying last year that he felt like he was "riding in a car with a drunk at the wheel", and i think that really sums up the sense of anger and powerlessness i feel on an almost perpetual basis right now.
i've also resigned myself to the sometimes difficult task of actually talking to people about their political leanings on a regular basis. i've had a lot of great, informed conversations with people who give their political leanings a lot of thought (nik and blake come to mind, among others), but i've also talked to some people who've already made up their minds to vote for Chimpy, but can't explain why.
it sure is hard - no, HARD - to keep my cool during those conversations.
first of all, why would you vote for someone without having a handy explanation available? i'd rather have someone tell me that they weren't voting at all because they didn't like either candidate (tonya) than to hear that. while i don't have to be told what a huge problem apathy and indifference has become here, i still hate to see it personified.
generally speaking, i have my vocabulary of comebacks on alert for these conversations, and i generally do pretty well with them...for instance, when someone tells me that he represents their values, i gently remind them that they're talking about someone with a history of substance abuse and at least one DUI on the books - and besides, if he's so concerned about values and the american family, how does he explain away the fact that families have taken the biggest hit during his administration since herbert hoover, who presided over the great depression?
if security or terrorism comes up, i gently remind them that 9/11 happened on his watch, right after he came back from a month-long vacation at his ranch in texas, during which he couldn't be bothered to read the 8/6 PDB (presidential daily briefing) titled "bin laden determined to attack targets within the united states" - and that he bucked every attempt to (first) attempt to assemble the 9/11 commision and then to testify before it, until it became obvious that he'd eventually have to - although he was able to evade doing so either alone or under oath.
i've never done volunteer work for a presidential campaign or anything of that nature - but i've gotten involved with the kerry/edwards campaign on a personal level. i played at a country rally for kerry/edwards on monday attended by state senator mike o'pake and our democratic candidate for the house, lois murphy. i've attended dem strategy meetings (one of which was suffered through in solidarity with my buddy pete from shame).
i'm not sure where the line is drawn, in terms of what i won't do to unseat this president.
but i sure do hope that i have something a little less depressing to write or think about soon.
also, i'm adding a blog to my sidebar - soul's road. it's written by rachel in british columbia, and she's brilliant. you won't find any significant political diatribes on it (i can hear the palpable sigh of relief from here) - she writes fearlessly, though, and i love that. i'm not sure what motivates those of us who do this to put ourselves out here like this, for the scrutiny of God-knows-who...i know that when certain friends of mine mention to me that they enjoy reading my journal, it sometimes leaves me with a tangible sense of awkwardness. not my close friends, certainly, because i don't say much here that i wouldn't say to them in person...but when someone from work, for instance, who i don't know particularly well, comments to me about what i write, i immediately wonder if there's an approval deficit - and wonder if what i wrote might have the potential to knock me down a notch or two in their eyes. all residual childhood issues, i know..i've been informed. the great thing about rachels' blog, though, is that it seems completely untouched by any similar concerns. i certainly can't speak for her motivations, but i get the feeling when i read her journal that it's a catharsis for her, in the sense that journals are supposed to be. that was what drew me to beth's journal initially, as well. (she's moved, by the way - the sidebar still has the old NCE address for now, but i've added the address for her new one to the sidebar as well.
my day just went to shit - the phone just rang and it's my favorite end-user.
i know what i'll be doing for the next 45 minutes...listening to fuckin' woe-is-me sob stories and complaints that her dialup internet connection is too slow.
yay.
so - in case you haven't heard, a vote for kerry is a vote for the terrorists, according to dick "boogeyman" cheney.
"If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again -- that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney said.
the response from the challengers?
Edwards told reporters that "Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line."
"What he said to the American people was that if you go to the polls in November and elect anyone other than us, and another terrorist attack occurs, then it's your fault," Edwards said during a stop in Chillicothe, Ohio.
"This is un-American. The truth is that it proves once again that they will do anything and say anything to keep their jobs."
Edwards said a Kerry administration "will keep the American people safe, and we will not divide the country to do it."
this in light of the news that we now officially have 1000 dead in iraq, and at least 335 dead in beslan...yeah, the world feels like a reeeeal safe place right now.
(if you'd like a closer look at the casualty debacle, stop by here or here.
we're part of the problem, not the solution.
if this is what we get with four years of a president who has the added benefit of a majority representation in the senate, the house, and the supreme court, then i'll pass.
oh, and it now looks like president chickenhawk is already trying to squirm out of at least one of the debates.
maybe he's got other shit to think about.
also, i could swear that when i opened up CNN's home page, they had a story about bush wiggling out of the middle debate...but it seems to have disappeared - not unlike their mysteriously missing story on dubya's illegal abortion.
just got back from picking up lunch at the convienence store down the street, and couldn't help but notice that MiserableFailure's picture is on the cover of both Time and Newsweek (who does he think he is? bruce springsteen?)
i opted, instead, to pick up tracks magazine (with willie nelson and los lonely boys on the cover). henry rollins has a back page column where he discusses a recent trip to baghdad. an excerpt:
...by the time i left to return to kuwait, my thoughts were conflicted and confused. i don't see a winnable situation in iraq. you could nuke it or your could leave, but there's no real way to win. it seems to me that as long as our troops are there, they will be the targets of iraqi aggression.
please vote this year. who you vote for isn't my business, but please value your voice and the chance to make it heard. if the draft comes back, please remind our leader that he has two very draftworthy children who i'm sure would be proud to give something back to america even if a hole has to be dug.
my name is henry rollins. i am not a journalist, a political know-it-all or a salon.com hipster - just a concerned american who loves his country and hates weaklings who sell out the strong.
why does henry rollins hate america?
i mean, it should be obvious who the REAL enemy is...
i'm finding that i feel a real reluctance to write lately (and it seems i'm not alone in that regard).
i think it comes down to being overwhelmed by so much of what i feel is wrong right now. i recall hearing david crosby saying last year that he felt like he was "riding in a car with a drunk at the wheel", and i think that really sums up the sense of anger and powerlessness i feel on an almost perpetual basis right now.
i've also resigned myself to the sometimes difficult task of actually talking to people about their political leanings on a regular basis. i've had a lot of great, informed conversations with people who give their political leanings a lot of thought (nik and blake come to mind, among others), but i've also talked to some people who've already made up their minds to vote for Chimpy, but can't explain why.
it sure is hard - no, HARD - to keep my cool during those conversations.
first of all, why would you vote for someone without having a handy explanation available? i'd rather have someone tell me that they weren't voting at all because they didn't like either candidate (tonya) than to hear that. while i don't have to be told what a huge problem apathy and indifference has become here, i still hate to see it personified.
generally speaking, i have my vocabulary of comebacks on alert for these conversations, and i generally do pretty well with them...for instance, when someone tells me that he represents their values, i gently remind them that they're talking about someone with a history of substance abuse and at least one DUI on the books - and besides, if he's so concerned about values and the american family, how does he explain away the fact that families have taken the biggest hit during his administration since herbert hoover, who presided over the great depression?
if security or terrorism comes up, i gently remind them that 9/11 happened on his watch, right after he came back from a month-long vacation at his ranch in texas, during which he couldn't be bothered to read the 8/6 PDB (presidential daily briefing) titled "bin laden determined to attack targets within the united states" - and that he bucked every attempt to (first) attempt to assemble the 9/11 commision and then to testify before it, until it became obvious that he'd eventually have to - although he was able to evade doing so either alone or under oath.
i've never done volunteer work for a presidential campaign or anything of that nature - but i've gotten involved with the kerry/edwards campaign on a personal level. i played at a country rally for kerry/edwards on monday attended by state senator mike o'pake and our democratic candidate for the house, lois murphy. i've attended dem strategy meetings (one of which was suffered through in solidarity with my buddy pete from shame).
i'm not sure where the line is drawn, in terms of what i won't do to unseat this president.
but i sure do hope that i have something a little less depressing to write or think about soon.
also, i'm adding a blog to my sidebar - soul's road. it's written by rachel in british columbia, and she's brilliant. you won't find any significant political diatribes on it (i can hear the palpable sigh of relief from here) - she writes fearlessly, though, and i love that. i'm not sure what motivates those of us who do this to put ourselves out here like this, for the scrutiny of God-knows-who...i know that when certain friends of mine mention to me that they enjoy reading my journal, it sometimes leaves me with a tangible sense of awkwardness. not my close friends, certainly, because i don't say much here that i wouldn't say to them in person...but when someone from work, for instance, who i don't know particularly well, comments to me about what i write, i immediately wonder if there's an approval deficit - and wonder if what i wrote might have the potential to knock me down a notch or two in their eyes. all residual childhood issues, i know..i've been informed. the great thing about rachels' blog, though, is that it seems completely untouched by any similar concerns. i certainly can't speak for her motivations, but i get the feeling when i read her journal that it's a catharsis for her, in the sense that journals are supposed to be. that was what drew me to beth's journal initially, as well. (she's moved, by the way - the sidebar still has the old NCE address for now, but i've added the address for her new one to the sidebar as well.
my day just went to shit - the phone just rang and it's my favorite end-user.
i know what i'll be doing for the next 45 minutes...listening to fuckin' woe-is-me sob stories and complaints that her dialup internet connection is too slow.
yay.
posted by tom at 17:37
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