This is not a diary about electoral strategy or ranting for the sake of ranting, it is a call to action. The mirage of a Constitutional Crisis is not an illusion on the horizon, it is here and it is real.
The time has come for us to say “Enough is Enough” and take the collective outrage and frustration we’ve been building up for the past five years to the streets.
It is time to shatter the Rubberstamp Congress and demand an end to the fascist tyranny of the Bush misAdministration.
Action Item ideas and brainstorming below the fold…
Working alone, we can only do what we can do, but working together we have the opportunity to awaken the power of the people and restore balance to our democracy. You have to believe it to make it happen. I am asking you to believe.
Take the anger, take the frustration, take the pain, take your memories, your stories, and channel it into a force for Change. It can happen, but we have to believe in ourselves. I believe in our power, because I read it everyday. Stories of violation, shame, pain, and silence, yet the stories never end there. They end in a firm resolve to never let the outrage happen again, the passion of an activist that spreads like fire from the screens of our computers. I know, because I have caught that flame from many of you.
What are your gifts?
Are you a photographer? Then take a picture of the beauty of this world and attach a message regarding the destruction of our environment. Send it to all of your friends along with a voter registration card or contact info to sign them up to vote.
Are you a painter? Create a masterpiece mural and hang it with pride, allowing your statement of dissent to reach the eyes of the sleeping voters of this country.
Are you a teacher? Ignite that flame of activism in your students. Make them understand that there is a crisis. Tell the stories that validate our greatest fears that the United States is on the edge of a knife and that it will take their voice, their push, that will help us keep from falling off the edge of full-blown fascism.
Are you an organizer and a leader? Get yourself to your local precinct meetings and run for office. Take the donkey by its ears and force it in the direction you wish it to go. Don’t let them sideline you, demand a hearing for your complaints and offer your ideas for a better way. Make it happen.
Are you a writer, like me? Then use your gift of words and help change the wind of the newspapers across this country. Send your letters to the editors to local rags that reach the small towns, villages and parishes across the land. Make your voice heard, in the best way you know how, by utilizing your gifts.
We can not let the status quo remain in place.
It is time to step up our presence another notch. Many of us have been fighting for decades while others are at the beginning of many years of activism. Experience and passion matter, especially when we are working together, utilizing the best that we bring to the table.
The time is now because we have nothing to lose. There are no longer any more “ifs”, they ARE torturing, spreading war, illegally spying on citizens, denying judicial process, stealing elections, ripping off basic human rights to citizens based on sexuality, gender, ethnicity and class; they are scandalizing the world with their economic policies, kicking the middle class down into the depths of society while lining the pockets of their cronies and personal investments.
We don’t have to put up with their farcical leadership any longer. It is a bipartisan outrage, any Congresscritter who has enabled BushCo deserves to be a target of our passionate anger. The Congress has officially become a symbolic branch of the government, no longer a concrete check-and-balance to the tyranny of the PNAC monsters. We must awaken everyone and anyone we can to the truth of our dire situation.
It is time.
Channel that rage and spread the fires of activism to the streets until
We, The People
bring an end to this nightmare
What are you going to bring to the table?
Although of an earlier time, one great American personified your ideals, and he passed away yesterday.
Your diary almost reads like a checklist of this man’s achievements.
Please take a few minutes to remember a person who exemplified what being a human can be.
Remember Gordon Parks.
that Gordon Parks had died, thanks for the info S2.
and thanks for all you write here.
I am going to target all of the small-town newspapers in Arizona, which I have access to contacts through my workplace. I’m going to write an open letter to the non-voters that are reading, as well as the discombobulated, that if they truly want a shift in the country’s direction, then they not only have to vote and protest for change but also empower their friends and families to do the same. I’ll submit my draft letter once I finish fleshing it out.
Small papers usually get little input from readers, so if you write a letter, there is a better chance that your message will be published than if you write to a national rag like the WaPo or NYTimes. Think Globally, Act Locally, it’s more than a cliché.
Bush is just the figurehead, it’s BushCo that we have to rip off their thrones, but this sends a strong message and gets the ball rolling:
You’ve got great nuts and bolts type of ideas for action here, Man Eegee. I look forward to working together with you in the campaign to retake democracy for “we the people” of the US and “we the people” of the world.
My goal on joining the pond in the first place was to convince people of the power inherent in nonviolent struggle movements.
IMO our movement needs a more comprehensive plan that we can put into effect, rather than more half hazard Alito type campaigns in which we end up with a net loss of confidence in our power rather than a net gain.
Gandhi’s success stemmed from his strategy of building up the level of his people’s confidence. It’s essential that we concenrate on projects that can achieve this.
Please see my diary later this morning.
I’m looking forward to your diary NDD.
diary, you clearly put alot of work and thought into it. It’s a griet piece to this overarching conversation about enacting change.
It’s 3am and I cannot sleep. I have been reading all these great diaries and my mind is racing. Several people have suggested that writing on a blog is not going to change a thing. That may be true but if we USE the blogs to organise it could be our saving grace.
Idea: Let’s face it, the majority of folks on the blogs can ill afford to say fly to DC(or wherever) for a taking it to the streets campaign/protest. BUT< if we can get say 10% of each blogs users to commit to not only going to the Capitol and locking arms to surround it to DEMAND IMPEACHING the fascits but bringing at least one other person with them what size group would we have? 14,000 just from DK? 800 from Booman? And so on? Can we go to each liberal blog and put this idea out there or am I a dreamer?
Dr. King was a dreamer too.
I needed that Super….thanks! Can’t wait to hug you. You are still coming right?
I don’t think that’s true: there are enough people posting on these blogs who, unless they’re lying under the veil of anonymity or are very bad at their jobs (I’m thinking of the countless, countless attorneys, for example, the many IT people, profs, others), have the means, not only to fund their own trip, but to sponsor others.
This is a copout. The will is not there.
Protesting is “passe” and they don’t want to be seen as “nutcos” or “peace-lovin’ hippies.” Writing harry reid and asking him to save us is more “respectable”.
How much money was raised on the blogs in a very short time to pay the medical costs of voting rights activist Andy Stephenson’s medical costs? 75K?
You can send a lot of people to DC for 75K.
I disagree Stark. If you reread what I am saying is that there are at least 10% of each blog users that CAN afford to go and take one person along. I think the will is there. People say it all the time. Just tell me where and when and I will be there. It is more lack of organising the thing that is the problem imho. There are thousands that are also here that are homebound or disabled in some way that keep them from traveling. Maybe they could sponsor someone else to go?
Can we go the democrats.com, CodePink other organisations to sponsor a Million Member March? MADD did it a few years back. Let’s contact them and see how they did it.
One of our biggest problems is that there is no central location, no umbrella over the whole of our movement, just a whole lot of very well-meaning groups going off in a multitude of directions, but no over-all, encompassing strategy.
If we could add some strategy and coordination to all this I truly believe all hell would break loose on BushCo.
Martin Luther King, Gandhi, and Lech Walensa accomplished this. And since we have no one particular leader we’ll just have to do it ourselves, right?
I used to think that was possible. After looking closer at the idea, it fails because none of the larger groups are able to think beyond their own boundaries.
Yep.
But if the message were simply IMPEACH INCOMPETENCE?
I like that one. Sounds like a good one for the freeway bloggers.
If indeed “it fails because none of the larger groups are able to think beyond their own boundaries.” then I’d say fk’m. We will just have to form new groups, which is what I expect to happen with the Ds if they don’t soon come around to reality of this fascist state BushCo is bent on having.
And if “…looking closer at the idea…” has included a thorough examination of the work of Gene Sharp, and his protégé Robert L Helvey and you’ve found no useful tools there, then I really wouldn’t know what to suggest that would yield any optimism.
Nonviolent struggles have yielded results under full blown dictatorships in the past so why not now?
Have you taken a good close look at the words that have come from this administration in the past 4-6 months as a warning?
When Congress approved the PA and made the illegal wiretap legal, it put all of us out there for some serious prosecution. This admin has way too much to lose.
It’s too late.
Hey, rumi, for all I know you could very well be right.
So in that regard I’m just damned lucky to have born a Gemini. One of me has thoughts that run quite similarly to yours. The other holds out some hope…
I survived seven years of depression relating to having refused induction, twice.
So, since I have this wonderful choice between the Gemini twins, I choose the hopeful one, if for nothing else than pure self preservation.
I fully expect a knock on the door one of these next days, weeks… And should that sort of trouble occur I’ll be banking on a lifetime of very close connections throughout my state, fully recognizing that this may not be enough. We only have some 634,000 population, so the “degrees of separation” are probably closer to 2 or 3 rather than 6. If I was to disappear it would not happen quietly, that I am fairly certain of.
But the effort is definitely less risky now than it will be later, right? So if indeed there is a chance that this thing can be turned around now is obviously the time.
Nevertheless, I thank you for your opinion; it may well contribute to greater awareness of the dangers involved.
Awareness is my main concern. I never give up hope but it’s crucial to understand where are in regard to what we can do legally, and legally is the only way to do it.
It’s another reason I keep pimping the “hollywood” idea–to the disdain and ridicule of many who seem to still harbor some fantasy illusions about how some “common man” or “woman” is going to rise from the masses and lead us out of hell.
You wanna move masses?
You need “star power” — you need money, and you need people with media access.
(yes, yes, Cindy Sheehan managed to do it w/o all that….Great. And she should continue, but it ain’t enough, and I don’t think that is going to work for all the various causes we are fighting against…you’d have to have a cindy sheehan poster child for gay rights, for abortion, for minorities, for NSA spying, etc. etc.–and there is not ONE of those issues that has the unequivocal moral authority of “gold star moms” )
What if we actively sought the support of some of the most outspoken celebs? C’mon, guys, put your money and your media where your mouth is: let’s get behind a drive to IMPEACH
(And Impeachment is the only overarching issue I could envision getting masses and masses to rally around as one).
We disagree on much, what we all agree on is that these s.o.bs have got to go: hence, IMPEACH.
The percentages, actually are probably irrelevant. Fact is, we have a lot of people and resources we COULD mobilize, but it isn’t happening–and I don’t think the various orgs you cite are going to manage to get anything to happen.
As Maryb says, we need to be more creative.
It’s one reason I keep looking toward Hollywood–b/c realistically, to get masses of people in this country moving, the old methods aren’t going to work.
They aren’t working, Leezy. That’s a fact.
Don’t have any answers as to what WILL (tho some ideas)….
I’m not trying to be over critical, I just know that these old established methods simply are not working–when I think about the hundreds of “non-netroots” people I know who are profoundly dissatisfied with this regime and the whole political process–I know for a fact that none of the existing orgs and their methods are working to motivate these people. I know, because I’ve tried to direct them to these resources.
It’s not working.
Question is, what will.
I fear the answer to that is: nothing.
Unless we come up with some absolutely hairbrained or brilliant sensational thing….
I for one am not going to stick anymore time, money or sand into these old methods because it’s just a waste–my energies are better spent “saving kids”, teaching, writing, talk-talk-talking, etc.
with all due respect, what’s with the naysaying? Did you even read what I wrote up above? I’m trying to light a spark here, hopefully jolting some inspiration out of people to use what they’re good at to make a statement, it might not make the headlines of the paper on its own, but if enough of us get together, then the change can start to begin. I would hope that you would use your brains and experiences to help instead of take the wind out of the sails. Sigh….
Manny, it’s called REALISTIC.
The piecemeal, little bit athis, little bitta that–while it may be “chipping away” at this monstrosity, is not going to do what needs to be done.
These bastards MUST be removed from office. Asap.
pick, pick, pick ain’t gonna do it manny.
Get REAL.
We need a massive mobilization and we need it now.
How, realistically can we make that happen?
i thought that was what Manny was asking us to brainstorm on.
what I’m trying to brainstorm here. We blog, so how can we use this medium to organize and get something real off the ground on a massive level.
and what I’m trying to say is that to move the masses you need more than bloggers.
The blog world, to be honest, takes itself too seriously and considers itself much more ‘powerful’ than it is–there is hardly ANYONE in my RL circle who has any regard for the blogs, they don’t visit them, they will not be moved by them, and they usually just delete any emails that come in w/ re political issues.
IF we could use the blog world to contact and enlist major forces from OUTSIDE the blog world (sorry, I keep thinking Hollywood), then we could reach the masses outside the blog world. Maybe.
my diary? Throw my hands up in the air and give up? Not a chance. You might not have faith in this medium but I do, because I saw people from this forum alone get inspired enough to buy plane tickets to Crawford and D.C. last year to make a stand. Now we have others who have run, and are running for local office. All that in under a year. We’re sitting here bantering right now, why not use that time to organize? That’s the point of this conversation.
Don’t delete your diary.
But I don’t see anything wrong with being confronted with reality. And much of what Stark is saying here is the reality of our plight. She is offering ideas too. Her suggestion to tap into the resources of Hollywood. I mean, even to me, that idea just turns me off, but there may be some merit to it.
We’re all doing the best we can here, I think, but it can’t be all backslapping and kudos.
I’m starting to get a little uncomfortable every time someone posts my picture with that flag as some example of what to do. It freaks me out because the truth is that all I did was stand around with a bunch of people and have my picture taken. The truth is that my presence there went completely unnoticed except for us here and my own people. I’m an artist but I have to say that the idea of painting a poster or a freeway blogger type of thing, does nothing for me. I’m ready to confront the gate. That’s where I’m at. The question is, am I willing to go and do it on my own without waiting for backup. Because i could waste the rest of my life waiting for backup. That is the question that each of us needs to ask ourselves. What are we willing to sacrifice right now, knowing what the risks are?
Make no mistake: I’m no lover of Hollywood.
But the fact is: there’s a hell of a lot of money there, there is media access, and a lot of PISSED off professional entertainers and actors who DO have the power to move people in the way we bloggers do NOT.
They have RESOURCES we don’t have.
The other consideration there is that this country has so much been reduced to a) an “entertainment” machine and b) a personality cult machine.
The only people who have the power to break the apathy created by these two uniquely american pathologies are hollywood entertainers. So we can despise that, dismiss that as ‘beneath our principles,’ or we can be realistic in seeing that as a potential resource we might tap into to get HELP.
I’m thinking:
Make a list of all the KNOWN Hollywood people who have clearly expressed their dissatisfaction, people who clearly agree
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Draft a letter (maybe lots of letters) asking them:
What would you be willing to do to help bring down the B*shCo Regime
(we are your fans, we go to your movies, we buy your products, we are asking you now to come out fighting on a political front)….
Haven’t thought beyond that…. but give me a few hrs/days/wks.
Certainly am not going to waste any more brain power on the idea if it keeps getting smashed down by “hey man, I’m mighty mouse, live in the flesh, i don’t need no stinking michael moore hollywood types and I’m certainly not going to dirty myself with cheap shot-jokesters and sellout talk-show hosts”.
Well, great, mighty mouse, next time you’re handing out a parking lot full of Pontiacs, be sure to let me know–i’ll be first in line for a ticket, even though I can’t STAND pontiacs!
Didn’t Woody Harrelson do some wacky shit for a good cause in the late nineties?
I don’t know who Woody Harrelson is, but you got my attention with the words
WACKY SHIT
Wacky shit is what we need. But it sure as hell aint’ gonna happen as long as the thing everyone is afraid of is getting called a “nutcase” or a Michael Moore liberal.
This was in 1996.
He was in the movie Natural Born Killers so I’m guessing that at least one of my favorite bloggers has had contact with him.
Lead actor in “Natural Born Killers”. Also played an employee on the sitcom “Cheers”.
I have no problem being aligned or maligned for that matter, with Michael Moore, or being called a left wing freak, or washed up Hippy, whatever.
I like your idea to at least attempt to contact some of these people. Maybe if we present ourselves as a group, rather than individuals, it might make a bigger impact. Either way, it’s an idea and a contribution. More than I’ve offered.
I did notice a diary at dKos though about calling for, and ratifying Impeachment Resolutions in our local town councils. If more of those could be put forward and then sent onto state representatives, it might help to get the bigger ball rolling, or keep the little ball rolling further towards a national Impeachment effort. If 30 to 40 states delivered resolutions to the federal congress I’m pretty sure people would get up and take notice.
yEs, as a group–the more blogs we could get to join that group the better.
One thing is clear: Stewart reads the blogs. Olbermann definitely does.
I have to laugh everytime I see someone on the blogs get all blushy and ‘flattered’ when one of these dipshit dems (conyers exception!) comes out, lowers him or herself to our level, comes in and ‘talks to us’ (and gets 300 comments from fawny little people who go aflush from the brush with a famous democrat. puke).
STewart is reading the blogs (more likely, has staff reading them). I’m sure Colbert is too, and there are probably many others. My point there: the Hollywood folk are not necessarily dismissive of the blogs, and if we could get enough blog power behind attempts to recruit them, I’m not sure that wouldn’t be the ticket.
The Hollywood Ticket. heheh.
And who knows? Might turn into one helluva party, too!
to get real and offer some suggestions to make change happen. We agree that sitting on the blogs won’t make much of a difference, so if you think civil disobedience is the way to go, then please give us your thoughts on the best way to make a statement in that way.
I’m sick of talking, I’m ready to do, but you further no cause by shooting down everyone else’s motivation.
I think I’ve made some suggestions here:
the taxation w/o representation thing, for example.
the idea of actively recruiting major Hollywood people as another.
Where are the attorneys, accountants and freelancers who could get the ball rolling on a NO TAXATION W/O REPRESENTATION deal? What needs to happen? I don’t know. But it’s an idea.
Same with the Hollywood thing–but until people understand that we “are not all equal”–we just fucking AREN’T–and go around with these herculean fantasies about how a motley crew of ‘little people’ like us is going to bring down the bush regime all by our little lonesome insular blogworld selves, I’m sorry, but THAT is for my way of thinking REALLY fantasy land.
We need heavyweights–people with money and media access who are NOT politicians and have no career stake in the disney-co world of politics, but who agree with the basic principle ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
How do we get them on board?
How might we address them (would 5,000 emails to Clooney, to Springsteen, to Robbins, to Streisand, to WHO ELSE) do it?
Sheehan managed to get Baez on board.
Where are the rest of our “hollywood heroes”? How can we get them to help us raise some real hell?
My ideas for that type of organization have been stated here numerous times over the past month. I’m guessing they didn’t appeal to anyone so I’ll save the trouble of restating them again here. Some of us have been trying to put forth a system for what you suggest.
Well, for one thing, Manny, I think you have the slogan already here
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
(better and less ‘controversial’ than IMPEACH INCOMPETENCE)
Under the banner of ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, any number of things could be organized–tax strikes, campaigns to get progressive candidates, protests, letterwriting campaigns–everything that is already going on.
If you could get big Hollywood people to also start doing things–whether it’s charity shows (for Katrina money, poverty fighting, single-issue campaigns, agreeing to speak/perform at major protests [remember the Springsteen concert in Madison?])–under that banner
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
You could get some serious mobilization going.
Here’s a “theme song” for ya! (by Marla Glenn http://www.nomorelyrics.net/song/181609.html)
Manny, you are missing my point, and maybe I’m not making it very well (might be because I have been DOING, DOING, DOING, and for many years–more than many bloggers have even been ALIVE!)…
I’m trying to get us to
THINK BIG (really big, not blog big)
and
OUT OF THE BOX
More than out of the box: throw the fucking box away!
I’m at work so that’s the reason for delayed responses. I like your Hollywood idea, are you thinking someone like Clooney? Afleck? (blech) Sarandon? I’m sure we can find contact info for some of these people’s agents. Hell, we might even be able to find someone who lives in the San Diego area for the Left Coast Meetup at the end of the month. The point is to try.
all the above, and any others we can get (to). Stewart. Colbert. Moore. Springsteen. Many others.
Who was on the guest list for the Academy Awards? lol.
I’ve been trying to use my contacts with Nobel PRize winning authors’ agents too–as I mentioned somewhere, the response I got from people close to Guenter Grass (Nobel 99) was, “GWB is the Americans’ problem).
Just got an email from agent of Nobel 2004 (Jelinek, whose work I have translated)–will remind her about my request concerning whether Jelinek would endorse World Can’t Wait.
But, you know what, Grass is RIGHT. So is Pinter. It’s our fucking problem. We need to mobilize our people–and to that end, I think Hollywood is useful.
I’ve written many comments already on the notion of recruiting Clooney to actually run for office–sorry, but it could be a BLOCKBUSTER.
That aside….I would definitely be interested in seeking to recruit Hollywood people for political participation of any kind.
Frankly, I’m tired of their talk, too, and raking in millions on political issues, but not REALLY taking any risks, not really going OUT THERE and doing what needs to be done. Course you don’t know what they’re doing behind the scenes.
But I want them to invest their MOBILIZATION power–the power of their names, the power of their images, their popularity etc. to get the masses moving. Americans are so g.d scared right now, part of what’s keeping them paralyzed is that there are no BIG NAME people out there ‘giving them permission’ as it were to RISE UP.
After the election, there was so much outrage–and I firmly believe if that lame-ass-lying-in-the-lap-of-luxury weasel of a loser candidate kerry had come out fighting, all hell would have broken loose. All it would have taken was for big star boy kerry to come out and say: let’s fight this. The people would have gone wild. That scumbag coward.
Hollywood people are in a better position to take those kinds of risks.
Wonder if the Huff Post might have ‘middle man’ function? Might have access to agents’ names, etc.
So, a name for the action just occurred to me: Access Hollywood! lol.
That was beautiful, thanks. I saw where W Harrelson was in protests in California before the 04 election too.
Another name of a well spoken actor (on politics) is Ben Affleck. MSNBC had him on during one of the conventions….others too as I remember them.
OK, so let’s say we have as overarching theme/banner
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Under that theme, then, individual “actions”
one: ACCESS HOLLYWOOD
another one: NO TAXATION W/O REPRESENTATION
take all the rest of these ideas people are posting, give each one a name, promote them, do them, etc, but always under the one overarching banner of some theme–so that all these little pieces come together under one big piece.
I do think Manny’s ENOUGH IS ENOUGH is a good, very good, overarching banner–it gets beyond the single-issue splintering that ends up tripping up almost every other org/group
MoveOn kind of tried to do that, but you know, “MoveOn”–it’s a fucking command, and it sets a certain direction. Everytime I hear it, I just wanna say, fuck you, man, moveOn, you move OVER.
But ENOUGH IS ENOUGH….kinda says it all, doesn’t it?
EnuffisefuckingNUFF.
From The Screens To The Streets
Funny how a diary can go full circle like that.
you mean from the screen to the street to the BIG SCREEN
shit we just ended up right back where we started. lol.
All I know is that I now have an uncontrollable urge to climb a bridge and start unfurling banners.
😀
One effective method might be a cross communication between groups of different interests but not focused on political groups. Gardening, hobbyists, book clubs, church groups, photography clubs, astronomy clubs….the list is endless. The key to it is getting usefull information to one or two in these groups and let them spread outward. If a few can catch on from online exposure and then take it out to their non-net-enabled community, it will create new grassroots.
that’s what I’m hoping this conversation will spark. New ways to grow our numbers and get these crooks out of power.
Find progressive candidates who are running for your city or county council or state legislature and provide them whatever help you can, whether it is time or money or both. Build change from the bottom up.
Agree in prinicple Andi, problem is: that’s a process that takes a lot of time. Time we do not have.
With a concentrated effort, a significant change could be made in many places within a few years.
And nothing that says that doing this precludes other actions. And ceding state local and state elections to the right means that any win at a federal level will be short-lived because the foundation will be built on sand.
Protests against the vietnam war took years to see results. There is no easy solution; and there is no ONE correct answer.
read stories from refinish, albert, BooMan and others here who are getting their hands dirty on the local scene. We can support each other in those efforts and know that a progressive voice is being given a chance at the grassroots level.
I AM FUCKING TIRED TOO!
To my brother and sisters, mi gente, mi raza
America is failing us, it is sick and riddled with a cancer eating at the true morals we once held dear. And our death will soon come. The future will never know how good we had it. George Orwell once wrote:
Remember these words, burn them into you memory, say it every day if you need too. If you need an example to make you remember it and motivated, them remember Tom DeLay. With everything he did in the past, which could have him go to jail, he still won the fucking primary.
That is four counties voted for this thief, this school bully – the same bully you ran away from in your youth. He is no running your life. We will soon grow older and try to reflect our past by trying to answer this simple question, “Was life better before BushCo than it is now?” We try to warn our children and grand children, but it all be cease because that one question that keeps us going in this fight will be unanswerable. Not because of some conspiracy theory of mind control, but because we as a society will soon be incapable of comparing one age with another. For example:
Soon our future will soon what a true American was really about because our definition of our standard can be compared since it will soon be gone.
How many of you remember reading George Orwell’s 1984 and saying to yourself, “Naw, that will never happen.” It is happening now. The cancers of greed and deception is taking over and now is the time to fight for our lives, our children’s lives and their children’s.
¡Viva la Revolución! ¡Para Tierra Justicia y Libertad!
actually, when I read Orwell, I said, this IS going to happen here if we don’t change our fucking ways.
That was around 1980.
In 1984, I left the country for this reason.
Why I came back, long story.
At any rate, it has happened, and I frankly do not see anyone stopping it now.
(sorry Manny, been doing all you suggest and more, and for years; coming to the blogs actually was the last-ditch effort for me, not the start of political “awakening”).
Keep wracking my brain for that big ol brainstorm or magic mushroom that acts as a cattle prod to get everyone up off the couch and moving, but the process has been ongoing for so long, I just don’t see anything happening but the final precipitous decline.
fascism does not emerge from a vaccuum. It does not crop up overnight and suddenly be there.
It is always an ongoing process.
And we’re in it.
True fascism does npt emerge from a vaccum. And I will hand it to you that you saw it coming it before many of us did. Which is why I understand your frustration, we didn’t listen when you told the “sky is falling” however, we are listening now. And that is the important thing. What was done was done and now is the time to fight.
I will keep repeating the same message over and over and over again. And that was We will not stand in silence, Our Voices Will Be Heard!
Those people I mention have been living in hell a lot longer than us, yet they never gave up. And it is like I said on my open letter, A Fight For Our Own Existence
¡Viva la Revolución! ¡Para Tierra, Justicia y Libertad!
lol….I appreciate your enthusiasm but we can’t even get the spark for a third party, let alone a revolution.
if you turn the revolution into a party (that’s where hollywood comes in), it becomes infinitely more attractive and you can forget about the third party.
Indeed.
So call me a “soothsayer” 😉 and pls take it seriously when I say NOW, we REALLY, REALLY, REALLY do not have much time left. My ‘powers of perception’ have not decreased over the years, nor has my concrete knowledge of how fascism works (believe me, I know this–it’s how I make my LIVING!)
The situation is absolutely URGENT.
Which is why we don’t have time for conventional wisdom and we don’t have time for anything that fits inside the box.
I’ve been trying to think of a way to implement my confrontation idea about Universal Healthcare for Everyone.
I think that some of what protects our elected representatives is the fact that local numbers are so hard to find. Who knows how many people in their neighborhood don’t have health coverage for themselves or their families? No one. Not any of us.
Just a mile from my house is a Government Document Library with several Gov. Doc. specialists. I’m going to send them an email (the program is called “Ask a Librarian” and most public libraries have it now) And ask for guidance on how to find the information.
Once I see how the information is presented. I’ll think about the next step. But, I want to make it easy for healthcare activists to find out how many people are without health coverage within as many units as possible (state, county, legislative district, etc.) So that candidates can be confronted about the magnitude of the problem and asked where they stand.
That’s my plan for action.
Excellent plan, katiebird. I hope you’ll post some details of what you find and how others can obtain data for their location…
I love it when this site leads to positive action.
I’m looking forward to hearing on your progress. If the rumors are true, the Democrats will be making healthcare a priority if and when they regain control of Congress.
So we find ourselves here once more. Through outrage and fear we reach out to each other grasping for the way. The one thing that will work. I agree with Stark and others that massive civil disobediance is what is needed. This is different from protesting. Civil disobedience requires the man to react. It taxes his resources and his ability to counter a strong, and forceful mass gathering.
There is no fucking way that they are capable of arresting and detaining thousands of people at a clip. It’s just not possible. They would be forced to use more violent and confrontational tactics. It’s that reaction that would draw the attention of the media. The question is, are we ready for that confrontation. Are we at the point where we realize that our options have been exhausted. Are we ready to make those kinds of sacrifices.
Those thoughts and questions scare the hell out of me. But my love of liberty, and my sadness and distress at the thought of leaving my children behind in this fucked up mess propel me forward in spite of my fears.
Are we ready to make those kinds of sacrifices.
This is the problem, Super. Most people are not. I’m not sure I haven’t already “spent” my own willingness to make those kinds of sacrifices. I made them, throughout the eighties and into the 90s.
the problem is very, very deep-seated, and in many ways, uniquely American. For too long, we have been used to getting something for nothing. To expect now that we suddenly make sacrifices when we’ve NEVER had to do that before….I just don’t know.
One idea that’s been going through my head is: taxes.
Anyway we could orchestrate a tax strike?
Anyone know the logistics?
Do we have lawyers who would back us up if we just say, sorry, I’m not going to pay them: I am tired of paying for flag-draped coffins, and have long been toying with the idea of taking the amount I would theoretically “owe” these thugs and writing a check to some org or individual in NOLA.
But I sure as shit am not going to do that without knowiing exactly what the consequences are and without knowing that there is an attorney willing to work pro bono–and of course, it would be more effective if I knew another 70K people were also doing it.
Freelancers are the best candidates for this kind of action.
How many freelancers do we have on the blogs who are willing to risk their asses with the IRS?
Where are the accountants and attorneys who can calculate the risk and who will be there to back the rest of us up?
Tax time is just around the corner.
Super and Stark – this is what I’ve been thinking about for the last week – civil disobedience. And I have been thinking about exactly what you suggested Stark – federal taxes. You wouldn’t have to go to DC to join in on that one. I’m scared too at this thought, but I don’t think trying to get elected officials to do something about our situation is going to work.
I too have thought this may be the answer but my taxes are taken right out of my check so how would one stop that and would the company go along with it?
As far as being the only one? Look what happen when one woman decided to camp in a ditch. If you build it they will come. Civil disobedience? Cindy is still doing that. She was brilliant to lay down at the Capitol and let the Iraqi women see her being dragged out. Show them that this is what “freedom and liberty” looks like in the USA. I have lots of vacation time coming but have to give at least four weeks notice before I can take it. I will not give up. I am willing to go to jail.
I would like to pursue the “NO TAXATION W/O REPRESENTATION” idea, but, sorry, leezy, one woman not paying her taxes (and sending the money directly to the people who need it) is not the same as a GOLD STAR MOTHER. It just isn’t. There is no moral authority in one solitary “tax evader.”
There would be moral authority in MANY tax evaders.
Yes, and the reason I say the target group here would be freelancers is that we are the ones whose taxes are NOT taken out of our paychecks–au contraire, we go through the painful (excrutiating!) act of writing those damn checks year after year.
I could get behind something like that, but NOT without, as I said, BACKUP.
Accountants who know their shit, attorneys who also know their shit, and a “core” group of other freelancers willing to take the same risk.
Cindy Sheehan has been arrested numerous times now. How many times have you been arrested in an act of any kind of civil disobedience?
I’m not picking on you Stark I am picking on all of us. They have pushed middle America to the point of the consequences may just be too great. They have children and houses and jobs to worry about.
I used to be an independent contractor in RE so I know about writing those checks to the IRS every year. Either way, we all pay either in a big chunk or a little chunk at a time. That ia all so beside the point.
What I am hearing from you and I may be wrong, let somebody else start it and let it be a Hollywood Star because I already paid my dues. Well, we all get what we deserve then don’t we. Just how far do you think you will get past the “agents” of these stars? Good luck!
Don’t piss me off Leezy.
I’m not going to get into another Cindy Sheehan pissing contest: I know the kind of sacrifices I have made in the service to these causes ALL MY LIFE and I have a contract with one “entity” and one only–call it “god” if you will. God alone knows the kinds of sacrifices and services ANY of us has made, and frankly, I have no fear of standing before ‘St. Peter’ in competition with Cindy Sheehan or just about anyone else.
But suffice it to say that I knew the inside of a jail cell inside and out before it even dawned on the Cindy Sheehans of the world that there was anything WRONG with the way this country operates.
You want me to go out and get arrested? You think that would help? Shoudl I then call up Cindy and say, hey, dear, while I’m in jail, do you think you could come in here and take care of the 30 or so young african american kids who just lost a teacher? You think you can handle the subject matter? Careful while transporting all that equipment–you know what to do with the doundounba, sangban and kenkeni, tho, Right? And i’m sure you’ll step in at their next performance if they get off beat and you’ll be able to bring them right back in, right?
Nuff said.
That does not diminish in any way the respect I have for what Sheehan is doing–and I’ve said that 20 thousand times.
Cindy Sheehan is a great person. She’s doing great, great things. She’s not ‘god’ and she’s not a saint, and most important of all: she and her movement alone are NOT going to take down B*shCo.
I do not consider Hollywood stars “inaccessible”. And my reason for turning to Hollywood has NOTHING to do with me not wanting to “do” anything. It is based on a REALISTIC assessment of the urgency and magnitude of the task–and a search for “who has the tools” needed for this task.
We don’t.
Cindy Sheehan doesn’t.
Get real.
If you think B*shCo can be brought down without the serious investment on the part of ‘heavyweights,’ you have underestimated the nature of the beast.
I as an individual have very little power to get beyond these guys’ agents (but you seem to have missed the part where I point out that I do have de facto contact to Pinters’ agent, who also happens to be the agent of the 2004 Nobel Prize winner whose work I have de facto TRANSLATED; and I have many other contacts to ‘higher ups’ in the literary and publishing industry, in Europe and in the US). No that’s not me saying, nanananan look at all the people I know: it’s an attempt to make clear that ‘famous’ people are NOT completely inaccessible.
One email to Clooney’s agent from one no-name little person like me isn’t going to do a fucking thing. But, what would 5,000 emails do? What would a concerted Blog campaign to recruit them do?
Throw away the box, leezy, it’s clouding your vision.
“What would a concerted Blog campaign to recruit them do?”
I have seen many a petiton get signed through the blogs, campaigns to email, write letters, fax bomb the senate. It is NOT going to happen over night and I am not saying the blogs are the answer but a tool to get people into action.
Do you think your job teaching is any more important than what any of us here do for a living? Please, get off your soap box. I stopped thinking inside the box when I was 15 dear.
When I was in The green Party I sat in with a phone call between Mike Farrell(Mash) and my son. There are some Hollywood types that may be accessible but It is not as easy as you think.
Someone earlier said we are too spintered, too many different groups going in all directions. I agree with that and would hope that we could get the ball rolling here to start a central group, splintering off into regions. We could use the regional threads here to start getting organised. Let’s brainstorm and come up with a list of ways to get the Cabal of Fascists out of the White House instead of fighting each other.
Without taking sides,I wish that didn’t need to be said so often around here.
I also think that were suffering from a form of PTSD here. Dealing with these outrages to our senses, one after another, after another, has to be taking a toll.
We’re all on the same side. The sane side.
Oh god, Leezy I’m not going to get into it with you!
For the record: I Don’t make a LIVING teaching–I VOLUNTEER those services. I make a living translating fucking Nazis to finance the programs I offer these kids. Wanna trade?
And the teaching is the least of the “volunteer” efforts (and hard cold cash) coming out of this household on any number of fronts. As I said, I don’t want a pissing contest, but your assumptions piss me off.
You don’t like the Hollyood idea? Fine, throw it on the trash heap and go get yourself arrested, but if that’s going to have any effect, I’d suggest you seriously consider what kind of “moral authority” you have to draw on for that arrest to have any effect whatsoever other than taking you personally out of commission–in the context of the highly immoral legal, social, economic and ethical framework which affords people who lose their sons to war “moral authority,” people like me have the “moral authority” of a sewer rat–so my getting arrested for anything would probably be, for most people, a cause for celebration. At any rate, it would be highly ineffective politically. Not so for a gold star mom: and if Cindy Sheehan is a model for anything, maybe as a model for people to realistically consider what assets they have and how they can mobilize them to best effect change. Cindy’s primary numero uno asset was “moral authority”–she capitalized on that brilliantly to become a highly astute political activist–and she’s getting better at it all the time.
We each have our own interests, our own assets, histories, resources, etc. that we bring to this. You don’t have to LIKE my idea, but this business of ‘it’s not as easy as you think’….go away. How do you know what I “Think” in that regard?
There is no ONE WAY.
If there are serious people with serious skills and serious shots at getting the contacts needed to make the Hollywood idea fly–contact me, I’d be happy to get on board.
Same with taxation without representation. Know any accountants or lawyers who are willing to work on something like that?
Very good idea. Take your own advice.
Conscience looks like a starting place in the U.K.
From memory, there are parallel movements in the U.S.
fairly obviously only a starting point — one possible string to the bow as it were.
If I am at the edge of total dispair, so tired from fighting so long and seeing no results, and I am asked to give even more, I just want to hole up and make everyone go away. That’s because I’m human. So I do go away sometimes for awhile. But then, without fail it seems something happens to relight my fire. A diary in on it’s way about this..but now now just let me offer this; go seek greatness, and put your focus on that awhile, to recharge yourselves.
I didn’t have to go far..just down the street the other day, to interview some inner city youth workers for an assignment. Two hours, in the presence of human greatness like that, living human greatness and courage directly delivered to where it was needed the most, and I came home thinking..Whoa…no way can things be hopeless,not with live human beings like that afoot in this world. No. Way. Multiply them by HOW many people there are out there, quietly saving lives and dreams and hopes..for "the least of us" for little pay and NO fame ever?
Then I came here are read all the couragaouos stories by woman who DARED TO SHARE THEM IN A MIXED GENDER CROWD?! (Not only in some "safe women only space?!) Abolutely-freakin INCREDIBLE!
Now how the hell, I ask you, can I be totally dispairing of everything, when this stuff is staring me right in my face? Well, I can’t.
I odn’t know where the big picture stuff is oging to land, but I know this: there is no end to the kind of human greatness I have been in the presence of these last few days, and as long as this still exists, then dammit, so does hope in this ol heart.
that we are absolutely at the point of the need for civil disobedience, but I consider that one piece of the puzzle that’s starting to come together. We are at our best when we use the talents that each person brings and let those talents shine, so for the artist, create art and display it, for the musician, write a song and sing it to the masses, and for the flag-waving man of conviction, may he lead a powerful force to the halls of Congress to demand accountability.
Due to mobility and financial limitations, most of what I have to offer comes from right here where I sit, via writing, a good fit for me at this stage and age. (I am a storyteller smart enough to leave cutting edge political analysis to those who are good at it, and to leave direct political action to others with more energy!) I think we each have to find our own channels, and mine is in using what I know and what I have to empower and support others, from the inside of my own circle of influence.
This includes keeping a rather large emial circle of people who hever have time to read the news informed on critical issues, writing for Boo and other blogs, and make it clear whatever I put up be taken and used elsewhere it could be of use. I need to start sending more LTEs and commentary stuff to papers again. I’ve found the opportunity to use my writing to help a critically needed youth service agency raise money so it can keep on saving kids that get lost and forgotten. I live by the motto.."You already have all you need. Use what you have." My days afre filled with whatever shows up after I brush my teeth and just Yes", to whatever the day hands me to d. ( and no day is ever loong enough)
One other thought. I think the arts are more needed now thaner before. Writers, poets, musicians, composers, etc. speak a universal language that can reach so many. When a skilled coedian draws more seekers than newscasts do, well, there ya go.
Great diary, ManE! You are one heck of a motivating force!
of the most passionate voices I’ve ever read, scribe. I hope you’ll share that with the masses so they are honored to read your words just as we are here. We can’t keep waiting for someone else to broadcast our message to the world, it’s time to rip that bullhorn out of Shrub’s mouth and use it against him and his corporate monsters. Peace, my friend.
focus of our efforts, please see my new diary, Effective Counter Attack; Consideration or Implosion on this topic.
I know it’s long, but like Arlo said, If’n you’re goin’ to stop war… ya gotta sing loud.
I’m looking forward to your comments and participation.
I cannot recommend your diary enough NDD. Please everyone, read it.
And as Dylan said
“know your song well before you start singing”
(And that’s more an answer to Manny’s complaint about ‘taking the wind out of the sails’….than it is a response to your post, NDD).
I’ll start painting that mural, Manny.
know that I had you in mind when I wrote that 🙂 Looking forward to seeing it, I know you’ll send a powerful message.
(((Manny))) I’ve caught tail of an idea of my own, too. Something I need to do. Who knows where it will land me but I know I won’t be alone.
I’m going to speak out against the religious zealots who want to rape our rights while they rape our environment, our schools, our very core of decency.
I’m going to say “NO” to them and call them for what they are. Rapists.
of that simple act you do of printing out a statement and tacking it up at the post office. What goes through the mind of the passerby as they read what you’ve put up there. catnip has an idea of creating a flyer with a litany of outrages from BushCo and plastering the country with them, I think she’s onto something.
🙂 Manny. That simple act has gotten me very near danger. ACK.
Hey there is the Whispering Campaign where they post the outrages with facts and such and all one has to do is print it off and tack it up.
Whispering Campaign
Our mission: Find real journalism on the net and provide samples of it here, formatted for easy printing and distribution.
Your mission: Visit our site, click on some links, and Print the pages you like best. Copy your printouts and Distribute the copies by leaving them where others will find them. Repeat this sequence as often as possible.
Places where people sit and wait are good! We like coffee shops, bus stops, fast food restaurants, waiting rooms, creativity…
someone at my hubby’s job is doing something like that….
always leaves things to read in the JOHN!
Let me add: I do not use YELLOW thumbtacks either 🙂
Used up alot of ink cartridges and I know many were yanked off and ripped down. Some I’ve seen the next day in a mud puddle by the bulletin board. But… something started to happen.. they would still be up. I’d see people reading them. Some times they’d be up for an entire week.
Some days… they’d be moved to the center for better viewing.
And some days… a returning Marine would come up behind you as you were tacking up Bring them hom now postcards and – hug you and cry with you.
I liked the Whispering Campaign. Wish they had something new on their site.
I first learned of the Whisperer from a Booman commentator. I can’t remember their nick.. and I don’t see them anymore. Nothing new, however their site look was updated, but I do worry if they are still around.. or ACK in Gitmo.
that are still usable are largely limited to incitement and generous dispensing of unsolicited advice.
My advice to Americans at this point, is to decide whether you wish to uphold your Contstitution or your Patriot Act.
Read the diary, and got excited.
Read the commentary, and got a bit peeved.
Tell ya what, while some of you sit on the sidelines (or worse, encourage the rest of us to) waiting for THE big massive unitary single coordinated effort, I figure there’s no harm in getting out there and doing something
Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone out there with the one “big idea”.
As for myself, I went out and got involved at the precinct level. Its one dinky town in one Red district in one Purple state. But someone’s gotta figure out a way to make the election side of this thing work — and when they do, I want to be in a position to do something with it. Heck, maybe I’ll figure it out with a lot of help from all of you.
Hell, the pond involvement in Crawford was spontaneous, launched out of frustration that no one else was doing anything, and seemed futile at the outset, near as I can see. And it didn’t end the war. But geez louise, it made a difference! It ended up changing the narrative at a national level. It took something most folks couldn’t relate to, and changed it into something they not only had an opinion on — but actively wanted to talk about. And don’t forget how that one incident brought this community together!
If you find the secret magic sure-fire silver bullet thing, then let me know, and I’ll help with that too. But in the meantime, I’m gonna go do what I can. I’ve got one plan for now. That doesn’t preclude me from working on others as they arise.
And it’ll be a hell of a lot easier if we support each other, instead of shooting each other down.
(this was even longer, but the misguided negativity (er ‘REALISM’) upthread kinda trashed the diary. I’ll go post the positive bits somewhere else.
getting your hands dirty on the local level, Yaright. There seems to be a growing number of BooTribbers taking that path, I would love to hear more from people like you. I emailed with BostonJoe today and he gave me a snippet into the local activism he’s been working on, it is inspiring.
We need inspiration. We need motivation. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a “real” win, both symbolic or electorally, but we can’t give up and my point with this diary was to help spark some ideas for how each one of us reading and interacting here can bring our talents to use for the greater good.
Sorry for getting a little heated there 😉
I love what you did with this diary, and I hope this will be an ongoing thing. This site works best as a mutual support group. And when we support each other, some pretty amazing things happen.
I’m gonna toy with an idea this inspired. Its no silver bullet, but it may be helpful. When I figure it out, I’ll throw up a diary.
forward to it (the diary, not your throwing up) 😉
It occurred to me from reading Manny’s diary and some other diaries today inspired me…I have a former colleague who still sits on the town council where I live. I think next time I see him, we run into each other every couple weeks, that I’ll see what he thinks about a town council resolution on impeaching Bush.
Yeah, I know those things are symbolic, and some dinky town in the middle of nowhere ain’t exactly the most glamorous place for symbolic action, but hey why not.
We may be out in the middle of Bush country where I live, but there’s a subset of folks out here who’d surprise you. Maybe the town council would go for it. Maybe not. Never know til you try.
i think it would have a lot more symbolic value than San Fran, Vermont, Madison and so forth. It might even make the AP.
Quite true. If something comes of it I’ll let y’all know.