Sunday morning, Sept. 4, 2006, and it doesn't look like I'll be taking a morning walk anywhere today. That's because it's been raining all night. What's new? We live in a desert, but since returning from the Pacific Northwest, early August, it's been a whole new experience, unlike anything I've seen in all my years here. The PacNW with its infamous reputation for rain can't hold a candle to this. Friday we got our water bill. It was over 75% lower than July's.
I'm not sure what this rain's about. The remnants of Hurricane John in the Pacific colliding with a cold front over the Southwest or something. When I finally decided to go retrieve this morning's half soggy newspaper off the drive, I did so under cover of an umbrella. The news echoed the weather, i.e., it's plastic covering suffered an integrity failure with a resultant water incursion (geez, I should be writing for the Pentagon maybe?). While out there, I decided to also check the rain gauge. Another 1.75 inches overnight! This is better than the inch the day before that landed on us in an hour or so flooding streets and closing the interstate.
There's nothing we can do about the weather but suffer through it. Unlike the climate of this country which we can change. I'm talking about the political climate, that is, which is up for alteration on Tuesday, November 7th.
I recall an election long, long ago. It was in 1960 and I can still remember the date on which that election took place. It was November 8th. And while I was too young to vote, my older brother could. And the reason I remember the election that year was on November 8th was because that was also my brother's birthday.
A week or so before his birthday, he sent out postcards to all his friends. We didn't have e-mails, voice mails, text messaging, whatever. So he diligently took the time to write out each postcard by hand and address it. And I still remember exactly what each said. They read, "Help me have a happy birthday. Vote for John F. Kennedy for president next Tuesday, November 8th."
I don't know how many of my brother's friends obliged him by voting for Kennedy. I suspect it was more the shennigans of Chicago's Mayor Daley that delivered victory for Kennedy and gave my brother a very happy birthday.
It was the most notable presidential election of my lifetime. That's because of the claim by some it was rigged. Until 2000, that is. Then came 2004. Evidence for stolen elections was far stronger than 1960's. And as those demonstrate, rigged U.S. elections are getting smoother. Unlike places such as Ukraine, Mexico, etc. where voter fraud and stolen elections are contested by millions in public demonstrations we, here, in the U.S. are far more civil regarding our sinking, stinking democracy. When it comes to voter fraud, harassment and election thefts, we don't give a fuck!
I'm pretty certain this will be another election with many suspicions and questions raised. There's a lot at stake. The Bush/Cheney crime syndicate stands to lose more than the support of their congressional enablers. They could lose their jobs. And in an impeachment of both, I'm not sure congress will permit them to testify jointly while holding hands without taking oaths to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" as they so nicely exempted themselves from doing during the congressional 9/11 hearings.
So this election will be another test in the further refinement of "grand theft democracy." Maybe a really big "October Surprise" will be required to rekindle American's "Chicken Little's" credibility. That's because, unlike the previous couple of elections, public opinion appears squarely opposed to continued sleights of hand of these two clowns, making a stolen election even harder and more obvious (except to roll-over democrat winners ala John Kerry and our media, of course).
So while I'm not optimistic much is going to change as result of this November's election, I still can't help getting excited. I guess that's just a hangover from the days when rumored stolen elections seemed like honest outcomes. The first one I was aware of being the happiest birthday my older brother ever had. I'll always remember that birthday. It took place on a Tuesday, November 8th, 1960.
6 comments:
I loved this post....and yup, I guess I am not the only one sitting here and waiting for a Chicken Little surprise...The Only "Terra" I am worried about is the Homegrown kind- Bush kind...I do wonder if they would do anything to stop this election- and ironically I worked really hard on 2004 ( as we all did ...esp after 2000) , and we all know if they can't steal it well enough they are fully capable of trying to sabotage it...I also do think that if the Election is tampered with this time we need to protest...period.
Dada, I remember vividly that election 1960. My dad, who woke up at 4AM each day to be at work by 5AM, stayed up ALL night watching the TV coverage. It really impressed me, this was man who normally went to bed 8-9PM. He hated Nixon & was very worried about where he would take the nation (well, we eventually found that out, didn't we).
Yeah, Mayor Daley stuff seems so amateurish now, doesn't it? What's a few corpses punching the ballot compared to the national corruption of the people's will we're seeing at every level today.
so sorry you're still fighting rain & floods down there. at the same time we're so high & dry here, it's just crazy. having lived a couple yrs in the pacific NW, I know how depressing endless rain can be. and naturally, i've not seen much about it on natl tv news. hang in there, perhaps all this moisture will induce some spectacular fall colors. D.K.
Oh enigma....I sooo agree. The danger from "terrorists" is greater from our own, than those outside our gates.
You know it, I know it, D.K. and a host of others know it. But I'm so sick of listening to my own blah, blah, blah when all it takes is for another "terrorist" attack inside the gates of our castle for most americans to be bah, bah, bahing in deference to the capitalists of fear.
"Gods" help us all, for we are so in reverence of our gods we will sacrifice all other species along with our own and the whole fuckin' planet--all in an effort to see our "god" prevails over everyone else's. (And sadly, that's a sign of a pretty sick species!") "God help us all!"
D.K. Yes, 1960 and the tactics used back then--whether or not they helped my brother have a "happy birthday" or not--seem so innocent and playful compared to the total corruption of the whole system now.
But I appreciate your dad and his hatred of Nixon. Being a californian just as Tricky Dick was, I hated that bastard. I'm still not over his funeral eulogies and my wondering, "Is that the same asshole I knew and hated that they're talking about?"
And as for the rains. When I wrote this morning we'd had 1.75" over night. Well, we've since added over another inch today. A tad unnerving, but just a preview of global warming perhaps?
hope is all we have right now
hope that people will vote and that vote will be heard
sad thing -- i talk to young people a lot and almost 100 percent are not registered and the reason
that they don't belive their vote will count...so sad
We are already seeing a crank up in "foiled" terrorist plots. The threat of terrorism is real (albeit fairly limited). The crying shame is that real efforts to contain that threat are being botched repeatedly to grab headlines. I happen to live on a bay that is a major seaport; seeing oceangoing barges come in loaded with container cargo so vast it looks like so many Lego blocks is chilling, knowing less than one out of a hundred of those containers are screened in any way.
I fully expect more "foiled terrorist plots" in the run up to November. This election may well turn out to be the litmus test for having a valid election in America anymore; no less than Bush's entire administration is in jeopardy should Congress be turned over to Dem majorities. To not expect further outrages on our voting rights, and outright fraud would be foolish. Brace yourselves, folks, it's gonna get nasty.
And I don't think it's going to be business as usual...I truly expect wrongdoing on an epic scale to throw this election in favor of the right. Grand theft democracy, indeed. The machinery is in place to whisk any of us away without legal recourse. With the spectre of Pelosi as speaker, do you really think these guys won't resort to an open coup? It's getting to the point quickly that imagining martial law is not so paranoid.
We do live in interesting times.
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