I was walking down Divisadero Street earlier tonight when I came upon a house that was being renovated. The front of the house was boarded up and there was a sign pasted to the boards.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Clifford
- This is me and one of my two cats. His name is Cougar, and he’s an F1 Chausie. A chausie is a new breed of cat under development. Chausies are the result of a cross between a domestic cat (in Cougar’s case, a Bengal) and a jungle cat (Felis Chaus). Cougar’s mom is 8 pounds and his father is a 30-pound jungle cat. He’s about 16 pounds, super intelligent, spirited, and toilet trained. A writer without a cat (or two) is not to be trusted.
9 comments:
AMEN!!! I won't rant here, but Clifford the Partriot Act and other measures taken by this president scare the hell out of me. I do not lke watching our freedoms erode in the name of national security or patriotism. Actually, patriotism is becoming a dirty word with me, they have so twisted its meaning.
Stewart,
Right after the decision to go to war, when people who questioned the decision were branded "unpatriotic" and "unAmerican", I knew we we're in trouble. When these same people were accused of wanting to help the terrorists and the name callers weren't taken out to the woodshed by the press, I said goodbye to the America we once knew and loved. Am I being too cynical? God, I hope so!
Clifford, I'm afraid you're not being too cynical. Who knows how hard it will be to repair the damage Republicans have wrought?
Curt,
Hope springs eternal... I guess part of me thinks the only real solution is to dismantle our government and return the power to the people. The people aren't always right, but maybe that's the only way to wake the masses up to what's going on, to make them care, to make them demand better from our "leaders". To effect change.
On the other hand, if we scream loud enough about issues such as war, our debt with China, the environment, healtcare costs, etc., maybe, just maybe, we'll be heard.
I don't understand progressive's preference for Democrats. Clinton/Reno tried their darnedest to get the Patriot Act passed in 1995, under another name: the 1995 Ominbus Counter-Terrorism Act.
Ironically, it was GOP Congressional opposition (with help from the ACLU and NRA) that helped stop Clinton's power grab: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:auptoPuVbI8J:www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread190086/pg1+site:abovetopsecret.com+%22There+are+two+entrenched+thoughts+today+that+run+through+both+the+mainstream+propangandist+camps%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Not that the GOP is better on the issue. Both major parties are anti-freedom when in power, both make some pro-freedom noise when out of power. Whichever party wins control in 2008 will do their best to expand the Patriot Act. You wait and see.
Furthermore, even as current Congressional Democrats make some critical noise about Iraq, they're pushing full steam ahead for war on Iran. See "antiwar" John Edwards recent friendly remarks at a "security conference:" in Herzliya, Israel: http://francislholland.mydd.com/story/2007/2/4/9581/41089
Nor am I aware of Pelosi or Hillary or Obama loudly opposing war with Iran. It's easy to oppose the Iraq War, now that it's a done deal. But what's anyone in power doing to stop the next war with Iran? Apart from lending their support to Bush?
All one can do is support third parties; not that that will accomplish anything.
I predict we'll be at war with Iran before November 2008, with both major parties' support (at least until well after that war is over).
Damn, these urls on the 1995 Omnibus Counter-Terrorism Act, and John Edwards pro-war remarks, don't seem to scroll out. They get cut off, :-(
Thomas,
Why do we prefer democrats? Beause, until we change the systems from the ground up, they're our best hope. Maybe our only hope. Are they a panacea? Hell no. Not even close.
Until recently, I would have said that a truly progressive candidate wouldn't have a prayer in being elected...but there are now so many issues that are wearing down American resolve -- war, budget, gas prices, education, health care, global warming -- that the time may be ripe for real change. Hopefully soon someone with the charisma of an Obama coupled with a true progressive agenda will arise. Until that time we do the best we can, which sometimes means voting where the least harm can be done.
During the last presidential election I was so disappointed by our democratic representative that I actually tried to get a message to him. The more he spoke, the more I began to believe that the dude had the book learning, but not the life experiences, common sense, or diplomacy necessary to lead the country. Did I vote for him still? Hell yeah. I would have voted for the devil himself if he were running against Bush. Sad, but true.
One of the saddest days I can remember is watching CSPAN, as one-by-one, democratic senators got up and spoke about the importance of the vote, questioned the shenanigans that went on in Ohio, then accepted the count as valid. Everyone that is except Barbara Boxer (a hero of mine).
So yeah, the democrats have let me down more times than not, but I'm smart enough to vote for them, because, in the end, it's in my best interests to do so.
That is, until a true progressive is given the mic and people rally around real change.
I think the big issue now is not Iraq, much less global warming, but the coming war with Iran. And it's under most people's radar.
I fear we'll have a new war on our hands before long. Some people tell me I'm a pessimist (true). They tell me there won't be a new war in this political climate.
But I see quiet signals, from both parties, that even as everyone discusses Iraq or global warming, even as the people focus on Anna Nichol or bald Britney, the powers that be are aligning their pieces for a war on Iran.
Already, there are the "intelligence reports" that Iran is behind terrorism in Iraq. Both parties are warning of the newfound Iran threat.
Of course, once there's war on Iran, that'll sweep all other issues off the table, so forget health care or global warming. It'll be like rebooting the Iraq war for a second go-around (even as the original Iraq War is still going on).
Of course, I could just be a crazy pessimist...
The progressives have been warning about this eventuality for a couple years now. Maybe longer. That's what's scary to me. That they would go along with "the plan" even when the jig is up. And get away with it.
Post a Comment